


Rumours of Thunder

by Mintaka14



Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-15 09:58:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 35,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14788346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mintaka14/pseuds/Mintaka14
Summary: Kira Ford is having a bad week. Mutant dinosaurs and parental curfews don't mix. But when a girl at Reefside High goes after someone she cares about, bad gets worse and Kira has more than a few challenges on her hands.





	1. Chapter 1

**Rumours of Thunder**

**A Power Rangers Dino Thunder story**

**By Mintaka14**

*******

The Reefside High corridor was almost empty except for the last few kids slamming their lockers closed. A breeze fluttered the Prom 2004 notices on the wall and sent stray chip packets scudding along the grubby vinyl floor. Kira had her hand on the science room door when she heard the sound of a desk chair being shoved back quickly from inside, and rapid footsteps heading towards her.

She could hear Dr Oliver saying, “You seriously need to rethink things, Cheryl. I won’t say anything further, but I am going to have to report this to Principal Randall.”

Kira stepped back just as the classroom door opened and Dr O came out. Behind him, Cheryl Armstrong was perched on the edge of the teacher’s desk, frozen in an awkward pose with her face a mask of fury. Dr O was looking grimmer than Kira had ever seen him.

“Are you okay?” she asked tentatively, and he forced a smile.

“I’m fine. I just have to see Principal Randall about something, then I’ll meet you in the carpark. Do Conner and Ethan need a lift to training too?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen them this afternoon, but I can hunt them down.”

Dr O nodded briefly, and strode away. Kira glanced back into the classroom, where Cheryl was uncoiling herself from the desk. The cheerleader flipped her carefully toned sunset-red hair back over her shoulder and met Kira’s gaze with a sharp, unfriendly look.

She sneered, “What are you looking at, teacher’s pet?”

Cheryl shoved past Kira, knocking her off balance a little, and headed down the school corridor. Kira watched her go with a frown, her arms folded, until the cheerleader had disappeared around the corner, then she dropped her arms and went to find her team mates.

 

 

**Rumours of Thunder Chapter 1**

Kira was already at the jeep, leaning against it and tapping her boot on the tyre to the beat in her ears, by the time Dr O hit the carpark. He was frowning grimly at the ground as he strode towards the jeep, and his short black hair was rumpled as if he’d been running his hands through it, but his expression lightened a little as he looked up and saw her. Kira pulled the earbuds out of her ears.

“How did it go?”

“It could have gone better.”

“So is Randall going to suspend Cheryl?”

Dr O gave her a warning look. “You know I can’t talk about it. Principal Randall has the incident on file now. Forget you saw anything, Kira.”

He reached across to unlock the door for her, and Kira hoisted herself into the seat, hauling her schoolbag with her.

“No Conner or Ethan?” he asked.

“Ethan’s got some stuff to finish up first, and Conner’s still at soccer. They’re both going to make their own way to training afterwards. And I couldn’t find Trent. So it’s just you and me.”

Dr O didn’t say anything as he started the jeep, his attention fixed on the road as he steered the vehicle out of the carpark. Kira shot him a sidelong glance. He’d rolled his shirt sleeves up, and she could see the tattooed muscles in his forearms were corded with tension as he gripped the wheel. He didn’t look like he wanted to talk, so Kira found herself humming under her breath, playing with a new melody line that had been niggling at her all day. It was starting to come together.

“I like that one,” Dr O said eventually. “Is it one of yours?”

Kira stopped, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “It’s a new one. It’s nothing yet, but I think it’s going to be good.”

“All your music is amazing, Kira,” Dr O said, and the corner of his mouth lifted in a brief smile. “Are you performing at the Cyber Café tomorrow?”

“No, Trent and I are getting together to work on our English papers. Thanks to Mesogog, we’re a bit behind and I need to catch up before Miss Morrison gets on my case.” She rolled her eyes.

“These mutant dinosaurs are always so inconsiderate,” Dr O joked. “So what’s up with Trent? He’s skipping training again, and he’s not working at the café this afternoon.”

“Why would I know what’s going on with Trent?” She felt her jaw clenching, and tried to let it go. “For the millionth time, we’re not a couple.”

Dr O lifted an eyebrow as if he didn’t quite believe her, but he didn’t say anything further, and Kira turned away to stare at the passing trees and street signs.

Eventually, she sighed and said, “Look, I know he’s having more than a few issues with his dad. Maybe that’s the problem.”

“Anton Mercer was never exactly an easy man to work with,” Dr O said. “But he was never this cold or controlling. Something happened to him when our lab was destroyed on the island, and I wish I knew what it was. It can’t be easy for Trent, living with him. Do you know if he’s convinced Anton to let him go to art school yet?”

Kira shrugged. “He doesn’t exactly talk much. We study English together, we fight mutant monsters together, and that’s about it.”  

They left the outskirts of Reefside and the jeep turned onto the rougher road that twisted up the mountain towards Dr O’s house. They were almost at the top when their dino gems lit up simultaneously. Kira hit the communications button on her morpher wristband.

“What’s up?” she responded, and Hayley’s voice crackled back at her.

“The monitors have just picked up Elsa in the woods. I’m sending the coordinates.”

Kira acknowledged, and thought she heard Dr O swear under his breath.

“I guess training is going live today,” he said wryly, giving her a quick, tired grin.

The road up the mountain was deserted, and Dr O pulled the jeep into a turn that flattened the tall grass growing up to the gravelled edge. The tyres spun and bit into the dirt, and then they were heading down again into the wooded land at the base of the mountain.

Kira followed closely as Dr O moved through the woods towards the coordinates. The trees were oddly silent, empty of the usual birdcalls and noises of small animals, and the only sound in the dark undergrowth was their own footsteps. The ground underfoot was damp and squelchy from the morning rainfall, and the smell of wet leaves rose around them as they moved cautiously through the woods and came to a wide clearing. On the other side, in a narrow, pale shaft of sunlight, Elsa turned, a stark black latex outline against the faded light.

“I knew you couldn’t resist me, Tommy,” she drawled his name provocatively. “And, oh look, you brought little Kira with you,” she sneered. Kira shifted, her eyes narrowing, but she said nothing.

“What do you want, Elsa?” Dr O said flatly, ignoring the disturbing reminder that Elsa knew their civilian identities while they had no idea who, or what, she was.

“Maybe I just wanted the pleasure of your company.”

At that moment, Conner and Ethan skidded up beside them, breathing hard, and Elsa raised one sharp, dark eyebrow.

“What? No White Ranger? Now, where could Trent be?”

Without waiting for a response, Elsa thrust her hand up, and the air tore open with a green crackle of lightning, tumbling tyrannodrones onto the muddy ground. Elsa stepped back behind them, and the scaly creatures moved towards the Rangers.

“I guess it’s time to fight,” Dr O sighed.

Kira closed her eyes, filtering out the sound of Ethan and Conner beside her. _Breathe in_. She could almost hear Dr O’s voice in her head, reminding her to let everything flow away from her with her breath, to open her awareness, and she breathed out, trying to push aside the lingering aggravation of the scene with the cheerleader. _And where’s Trent?_

And then the tyrannodrones were on them. As the first tyrannodrone charged at her, Kira flowed aside and countered, sending the creature staggering. _Breathe out._ The strikes were coming faster now, and Kira shifted aside to let a tyrannodrone claw move past her. _Let go and open your awareness._ For one, brief second, Kira could almost see time move on around her, what was coming next and what she needed to do.

She somersaulted gracefully over the head of another tyrannodrone and dropped into a sweeping kick in one fluid motion that took it down. As she came to her feet, she came face to face with Dr O, who gave her a swift nod of approval.

“Nice move,” he said, and for a moment his dark eyes met hers.

Kira felt her rhythm falter.

Two more tyrannodrones closed in on her with a rapid flurry of blows, but Kira was too off-balance now to pick up the pattern again, and she backed up out of reach, trying to get her breathing under control.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the flash of red that was Conner, flitting between the trees too fast for the tyrannodrones to follow him, and striking at them with lightning speed. Another one went down.

There was a sharp crack of wood, and a shower of damp leaves, as Ethan slammed another tyrannodrone into a tree with brutal force. And still there was no sign of Trent. On the other side of the clearing, Elsa flexed her hand in its fingerless black glove, and gave them a vicious little smirk as she shoved her arm into the air, spilling more tyrannodrones out of a portal. The creatures closed around them again, and Kira frowned. What on earth was going on here?

She didn’t have much time to think about Elsa as a tyrannodrone crept up and swung at her, clipping her across the jaw. She let the force spin her around to slam into the creature’s limb, bringing another strike up under its defences and forcing it back. Before it could recover, Kira brought the creature down with a solid kick to its centre.

It looked like the tyrannodrones were all defeated. As the last one collapsed to the ground with Dr O standing over it, rubbing his wrist, Kira caught a flash of green out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see Elsa lowering her hand as a third wave of tyrannodrones landed out of the portal, and Kira swore under her breath.

“Come on Trent,” Dr O was muttering beside her. “Where are you?”

And at that moment, the White Ranger swerved into view on his Dragocycle, sending a shower of mud and brown leaves into the air.

“Finally!” Elsa crowed. “So glad you could join us, White Ranger. It’s just not a party without you.”

As the White Ranger circled on the Dragocycle, drawing the tyrannodrones’ attention, Kira and the boys closed in together. The air flashed with brilliant light as they all morphed, and the Power Rangers charged back into the fight, weapons drawn.

Elsa’s attention seemed to be focused on Trent. He leaped off the Dragocycle and closed with the black-clad warrior, but she kept circling and disengaging with a series of swift jabs that was unlike her usual direct ferocity.

“Come on, Trent,” she taunted. “I heard you’ve been looking for me. What can I do for you?”

“How about go away forever?” the White Ranger snarled, and Elsa laughed.

“Now, where’s the fun in that? Then I wouldn’t get to see your _friends’_ faces,” and the spin she put on that word was savage, “when they find out your little secret.”

A tyrannodrone had taken advantage of Kira’s momentary inattention to attack, and she barely dodged the descending blow, spinning underneath it to stab the creature with her pteragrip blade.

“When are you going to tell them, Trent?” Elsa was taunting the White Ranger, but Kira was too focused now on the lingering battles to pay much attention. Dr O was cutting a swathe through the remaining tyrannodrones, and Ethan and Conner seemed to have things under control, but even as Elsa stepped back from Trent and vanished in an explosion of green portal lightning, there was a flicker of movement behind Kira.

She heard Dr O shout as she turned and skidded on the sloppy ground. Her pteragrip blades came up to catch the last tyrannodrone, even as she went down, flinging the creature over her head to tumble in a broken heap. Kira landed on her back with a huge splat that threw a soggy shower of mud over her just as she demorphed.

For one long moment, she sat there, staring through a tangle of filthy dark blonde hair, feeling the mud seep between her fingers and the damp settling into her jeans, then Dr O offered her a hand up. There was a muffled snort that might have been a laugh from one of the boys, and she scowled, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet.

“You’re supposed to be focused,” Dr O reminded her, and there was a hint of sharpness in his voice that she decided she must have imagined as she looked up into his calm, dark eyes. “You can’t afford to get distracted like that.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, and tried to wipe the mud off her jeans, but the dirt on her hands just made the mess worse.

Kira felt decidedly cranky as she squelched her way over to the rest of the Rangers. Conner was grinning as she scraped another blob of mud off her cheek, and she glared at him. Ethan made the mistake of actually laughing.

“Yeah, hilarious,” she snarled.

“Well, it was for us,” Ethan said innocently, and ducked aside as she swung a punch at his shoulder. Dr O was ignoring them, his attention on Trent.

“Trent, what was Elsa talking about? You were looking for her?” he asked. Trent was silent, his face expressionless, but Kira could see him fidgeting with the edge of his dino gem cuff.

“If there’s something you need to tell us,” Dr O pushed, a little harsher than usual, “now would be the time to do it.”

“We’re your friends,” Kira added. “Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad.”

Trent was still silent, staring down at the ground, and Kira frowned.

Dr O tried again. “Trent, we’re a team. We work together doing something that takes the ultimate trust in each other.”

“Yeah, and if you’re holding back on us, how’re we supposed to trust you out there in battle?” Conner chimed in.

Trent dropped his hand from his cuff and drew a breath, looking up to meet their eyes.

“You’re right,” he said. “Okay, look, this is how it is. I went to Mesogog’s lair to try and get info.”

Kira sucked in a breath, echoing the faint hiss of disbelief from her team mates. “You what? By yourself?”

“I found an invisiportal and it took me right there. I was just trying to help. We need all the intel we can get, so I took a shot.”

Kira found herself watching Trent’s expression, open and guileless now, and he met her eyes with a rueful half-smile.

“That wasn’t a real smart thing to do,” Dr O said in a voice that sounded carefully empty of emotion.

Trent shrugged, his eyes going a little wider. “Yeah, it was stupid. I got knocked out and I barely made it back to help you guys. It won’t happen again, I promise.”

Kira was still staring at Trent.

“So, that’s your big secret?” she asked slowly, and he gave her that smile that she’d thought was so cute when they first met. It left her cold now.

“Yeah. Look, I’ve got to go. My head’s still feeling foggy.”

“Okay, get some rest,” Dr O responded, and as Trent disappeared between the trees there was cautious silence amongst the rest of the Rangers. Kira didn’t realise that she’d drifted off into her own thoughts until Dr O said her name, startling her.

“Something on your mind, Kira?” he asked softly, and she frowned.

“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “There’s just something not quite right with him.”


	2. Chapter 2

Back at Dr O’s house, Ethan and Conner climbed out of the jeep, and Kira followed them morosely into the house, squelching with every step. Conner reached out to pull a clump of grass out of her hair, grinning like a fool, and she slapped his hand away. Dr O made a sound that might have been a cough, but when she rounded on him he was looking suspiciously serious.

“I’ll just… how about you go up and shower? I’ll find… something clean…” he offered, and with what dignity she could muster, Kira turned and made her way towards the stairs, dripping mud across the floor with every step.

When Kira came back downstairs, feeling self-conscious in Dr O’s sweater and tracksuit pants, Conner and Ethan had disappeared. She found Dr O in the kitchen, leaning heavily on the table as he tried to strap a brace around his wrist, and she hoisted herself up to sit on the table beside him. She grabbed the brace gently, pushing his hand aside, and started working the straps into place for him.

“What was going on out there, Kira?” he asked. “Your focus was completely shot. Those tyrannodrones shouldn’t have been able to even touch you.”

“It’s been a rough day,” she said defensively. She wiggled the brace, and tightened the strap a little more, trying to concentrate on the grey fastening instead of the black trail of tattoos that ran up his forearm. His calm was annoying her.

“I’m worried about Trent, and aren’t you even a little bit rattled by what Cheryl did?” she snarked, and there was a flash of something in his dark eyes.

“Of course I’m bothered. But we’ve got bigger things to worry about here, Kira. You know that. And if you take your anger into a battle with Mesogog, it’s going to get you hurt or killed. Like it very nearly did today,” he said sharply.

“And in the meantime, we’re supposed to just let Cheryl get away with it,” Kira muttered darkly.

“For god’s sake, Kira, just let it go!” he snapped, his calm finally cracking. “Cheryl is nothing. Let the school board deal with her. And I’m not going to watch you go into battle and get killed because you were distracted by Cheryl fucking Armstrong.”

Kira stared at him, her hazel eyes wide in shock. She’d rarely seen Dr O get angry. She’d _never_ had him angry at her.

As she ducked her head down over the wrist brace, his expression changed and he reached out to touch the line of her jaw, pushing her damp hair back so he could see the red mark coming up. Kira sucked in a pained breath.

“Oh, god, Kira.”

““It’s ok.”

“I’m sorry.”

“My fault for letting my focus slip. And hey, I used it to get in under the tyrannodrone’s guard. That’s one sucker that’ll regret the day it hit Kira Ford,” she tried to joke, but the look on Dr O’s face indicated that he didn’t really find it funny.

“Kira…”

“This isn’t because I’m the girl, is it?” Kira interrupted, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice. “I don’t remember you getting worried the last time Conner copped a fist in the face and got a blood nose. In fact, if I remember correctly, you told him to, and I quote, ‘drink a cup of concrete’.”

Dr O dropped his hand, his expression odd.

“Yeah, well, I’m not always that objective,” he muttered. He looked up and met her eyes. “You should probably head home. Your mom will be worried.”

Kira rolled her eyes at him. “And you think she’s not going to ask questions if I come home in my science teacher’s clothes? My _male_ teacher? Do you really want to try to explain that one to my mother? I can’t go anywhere until my stuff is washed and dried.”

It almost looked like Dr O was blushing. “At the very least, you should call her.”

Kira slid off the table. “Already taken care of. She thinks I’m at band practice.”

She wandered over to the fridge while Dr O retreated to the lounge room, and retrieved a can of soft drink from the door before she followed him. He was staring blankly at his laptop on the coffee table, a stack of what looked like their latest science exam on one side and an untidy pile of old papers and scrapbooks on the other. Kira swallowed a mouthful of soda and grinned.

“So,” she nodded at the exam papers, “how did I do?”

“Kira,” Dr O said warningly. “You know I can’t tell you that.”

“Not even for your favourite student?”

“Not even.”

He pointedly ignored her, and she put the can down on the coffee table, drifting around the room to flick through the cd collection. He looked up briefly when Kira hit play on a disc.

“You know the Eurhythmics?”

“Please!” She rolled her eyes at him. “Unlike Conner and Ethan, I am not an uncultured oaf. I’d kill to write songs like that. And Annie Lennox is a goddess.”

Kira executed a brief dance step that morphed into a kata to the beat of Sweet Dreams. She wasn’t even aware that Dr O was watching her until she spun around and caught his eye.

“Nice form,” he mumbled, and dropped his gaze to his computer again.

Kira felt her head go light.

“Really?”

As the silence stretched on, Dr O said to his laptop screen, “I don’t go easier on you.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t go easier on you. If anything, I push you harder. Don’t get me wrong, Conner and Ethan are good, and with their morphers they’re amazing. But you… you instinctively feel the way you’re supposed to move. You could be phenomenal if you wanted to be, even without the morpher, and I do push you harder.” He sighed, meeting her eyes again.

“We’ve faced a few tough fights so far, but it’s only going to get worse, Kira. I’ve seen it before. Hayley and I are calling in all the help we can get, but Mesogog is going to take everything we can throw at him, and I need to know that you’re as ready as I can possibly make you. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you because I hadn’t taught you what you need to know, or trained you hard enough.”

“You have. You do.” Kira caught herself babbling, feeling more than a little staggered by Dr O’s revelations. To distract herself, she turned to the pile of old scrapbooks on the coffee table, and picked up the top one.

“What’s this?” she asked. She flipped through a few pages of photos with the same group of teenagers. “Is this where the eighties went to die?”

Dr O rolled his eyes at her. “That, Kira, is the original Power Rangers team.” He leaned over to point at the faces. “Billy, Zac, Jason. That’s Trini… and Kim.” Kira noticed the way he paused, his finger lingering briefly on the pretty girl in pink.

She pursed her lips and turned a few more pages. “Who’re these guys? That’s you with the ponytail, isn’t it? Are they the Turbo Rangers? Who’s the Pink Ranger there?”

This time, Dr O didn’t look up.

“Katherine,” he said tightly. “Pink Ranger was Kat Hilliard.”

Kira didn’t stop to think. “You really have a thing for Pink Rangers, don’t you?”

Dr O glared at her. “Are you done?”

“Seriously, you’ve got a type here,” Kira pushed.

“Look, I learned my lesson a long time ago. I don’t date other Power Rangers. It doesn’t work.”

“Or you could just stop dating Pink Rangers. There are other colours, you know.” Kira swung her legs off the couch and closed the photo album, feeling unaccountably depressed. “I’d better go. Mom’ll be starting to get worried soon.”

“What about your wet clothes?”

“I’ll be fine.” She didn’t look back at him as she hurried for the stairs. In the bathroom, she changed into her still-damp clothes as quickly as she could, embarrassed by her outburst, and almost ran out the front door before Dr O could offer to drive her home.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Tommy sat there staring blankly at the computer screen for a long time after the sound of the door slamming shut behind Kira, wondering what the hell had just happened.

The sound of someone accessing the dino lab below broke in on his thoughts, and he headed cautiously down the secret staircase. A handful of lights in the main lab were on, casting shadows across the sandstone mosaic floor, and the banks of metal shelving stacked with boxes of fossil samples loomed against the walls. Hayley was just switching on one of the microscopes, and she looked up briefly as Tommy came down the stairs and dropped heavily into the desk chair beside her.

“Tough fight?” she asked sympathetically, nodding at the brace around his wrist.

“It was just tyrannodrones, but there were a lot of them,” Tommy said ruefully. “There are days when I feel my age.”

Hayley rolled her eyes at him. “My heart bleeds for you, grandpa,” she teased. “You’re forgetting that I know exactly how old you are. So what was Elsa after?”

“I honestly don’t know, but it was something to do with Trent. She just kept throwing tyrannodrones at us until he showed up. It felt like she was trying to keep us busy and draw the White Ranger in, but she didn’t do anything when he turned up except needle him about ‘secrets’.”

“Secrets?”

“And Trent was late for the fight. He had all sorts of plausible explanations, but Kira’s worried, and if anyone knows what Trent’s thinking it’s going to be Kira.” He sighed. “And she’s the one who’s going to be hurt worst if it turns out that Trent’s playing us.”

“That’s not all that’s on your mind, though, is it?”

Tommy grimaced, and grabbed a sweater from the back of his chair to put off answering, pulling it down over his head.

“Just a bad day at work,” he admitted finally when Hayley kept watching him. “And I just had an … odd conversation with Kira.”

“With Kira, huh?” Hayley said thoughtfully.

Tommy tried to brush it off. “We were talking about the original Rangers. Speaking of, I heard from Jason. You’ll have the original morphers the day after tomorrow.”

“That soon?”

“They’re bringing them in person.” Tommy gave a tired, lopsided grin. “It’ll be good to see the old team, even if it is just a flying visit. It’s been a few years since we’ve managed to all get together.”

“The whole team?” Hayley was saying, and lifted an eyebrow at him. “Kim too?”

Tommy levelled a look at her. “Don’t go getting any ideas, Hayley.”

“Oh, believe me, you and Kim is not an idea that I want to be having.”

That was strange, but before Tommy could ask Hayley what she meant, she asked, “So what was so odd about the conversation with Kira?”

Tommy gave a laugh that was supposed to be dismissive. “Oh, she was looking at the old Ranger photos, and she said I have a type.”

Hayley turned to fix him with a look that suggested he was being a bit slow, the one that always made him feel like he was about six years old and rather dim.

“She’s got a point,” Hayley said drily. “You’ve had two serious relationships in your entire life, and you know what they both had in common? They were both Rangers. They wore the Pink. Everyone’s given up even trying to set you up on dates, Tommy.”

“There are just too many secrets in my life for most women to tolerate,” Tommy protested. “It wouldn’t be fair, and no one who wasn’t a Ranger could ever fully understand. And I’ve learned the hard way that dating within the team just leads to trouble.”

Hayley just shook her head, and turned back to frown at the schematics on the screen in front of her.

“How’s the triceramax project shaping up?” Tommy asked, leaning over to look at the screen.

“I think I’m getting somewhere with the focus, and I’ve been in touch with Cam from the Ninja Storm team. Cam had a few ideas about how to ramp up the power, but I’m going to need a source. And it’s going to need to be mobile.” Her frown deepened. “I’ve had an idea there, but it’s not going to be easy.”

Tommy didn’t even bother to ask how she was going to make this happen; he’d learned over the years that if Hayley thought it was possible, then it would be done.

“Once I’ve got the original morphers, then I can check if I’m on the right track. They were what you based most of your dinotech research on, and I think they’re going to have what I need to undo what Mesogog’s planning.”

“If anyone can do it, you can.”


	4. Chapter 4

Kira pushed the front door open. “Mom?”

There was no response, and Kira dropped her bag on the floor, heading for the kitchen. Her mother was at the counter, her back to the door, chopping vegetables with a concentrated tension.

“Sorry, Mom,” Kira said contritely. “We were rehearsing, and I lost track of time.”

The knife stilled, but her mother didn’t turn around.

“I called Brian,” she said to the counter, naming Kira’s drummer, “and Stephen. They hadn’t seen you all day. I even called the school, in case I’d misinterpreted your message, and imagine my surprise to find out that you’d missed the last two periods yesterday as well. I need an explanation here, Kira. Where have you been?”

A couple of responses flashed through Kira’s mind – _I was saving the city from a snot-monster, Mom –_ but she stayed silent. Her mother finally turned around, her expression a mix of worry and anger.

“It’s not just that you’re three hours late getting home, Kira, although that’s bad enough. It’s that you lied to me. I don’t understand what’s going on here.” There was a pause while her mother took in her appearance. “And why on earth is your hair wet?”

They stared at each other for a long moment, her mother clearly waiting for an explanation that Kira couldn’t give. Her mom sighed.

“I think you’d better go to your room now, Kira. Your father and I will have to discuss this when he gets home, and at the very least I think it’s safe to say that you’re grounded for quite some time. If you can’t respect the rules, we’re also going to have to rethink your music lessons, too.”

“No!” Kira took a hasty step forwards without thinking. “You don’t understand…”

“Then explain it to me!” Again, as the silence stretched out, while Kira desperately tried to think of something, anything, her mom sighed. “Then go to your room.”

Kira climbed the stairs to her room heavily, and threw her school bag down beside her bed. She resisted the urge to fling herself onto her bed and give in to the physical and emotional exhaustion that was trying to claim her, knowing that if she did, she’d be asleep before she hit the pillow and her math homework would never get done.

With a sigh, she reached for the bag and the notes that Ethan had left for her. For a long time, she stared blankly at the numbers until they danced in front of her eyes, then she sighed and reached for her guitar.

With the first, tentative chord she plucked, the stress of the day faded a little, and Kira’s fingers wandered through the melody she’d caught hold of earlier in Dr O’s jeep. She chased after it, frowning slightly as she played a chord that didn’t quite fit, then modulated until it worked. The chords under her fingers shifted to a minor mood as Trent and his secrets drifted across her thoughts. And then Kira had a sudden image of the cheerleader with her hands all over Dr O, and the melody dissolved in a jangling discord.

Kira abruptly put her guitar aside and dropped into her bed, ignoring the math homework still sitting on her desk as she turned out the light and pulled the bed quilt over her head.


	5. Chapter 5

Things were still tense between Kira and her mother the next morning. She was almost relieved to get to school and away from her mom’s pointed silence. Kira dropped into her seat next to Trent in science, and she must have looked as wrecked as she felt, because Trent leaned over with a concerned frown.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly. “I tried calling you last night.”

Kira shrugged. “Just a bad night. I got home late from Dr O’s and had a fight with my mom, and there’s been so much going on that I didn’t sleep too well.”

She shot him a sideways look. “So, you want to tell me what really took you so long to get to the fight last night?” she asked, and Trent looked away, fiddling with the pen in his hand.

“Do you want to catch up after school?” he asked her, ignoring her question.

“I don’t think so,” she said flatly. “Mom wants me straight home.”

She was not unhappy to be interrupted at that moment when Conner leaned forward from the desk behind her to poke her in the back, tipping his head at an empty chair where Cheryl Armstrong usually queened it.

“Know anything about that? Rumour is she’s been moved out of Dr O’s classes and she’s not coming back.”

Kira flashed a glance at their teacher, but ducked her head before Dr O could catch her eye. She still felt a hot flush of embarrassment every time she remembered her outburst the previous night.

Dr O seemed unruffled by the constant buzz from the class, but Kira was keenly aware of the faint hint of tension in his calm, dark eyes.

“Hey, Kira,” Trent was saying softly. “Can I talk to you later?”

Before Kira could respond, the bell rang and Dr O called for order.

“Cassidy,” Dr O said patiently, turning his attention to the blonde reporter, who was standing next to Cheryl’s empty chair, still talking into the video lens. “Sit down, please. And Devin, stop filming. It’s just a chair.”

“Rumour has it that you’ve kicked Cheryl out of your class. Care to comment?” Cassidy asked brightly, reaching out to swing the video camera that Devin was holding around to point at Dr O. Their teacher sighed.

“Miss Armstrong has simply been transferred to Mrs Masters’ biology class, for reasons that are none of your business. Now, sit _down,_ Cassidy,” he repeated firmly. “We’re all waiting on you.”

When the class finished, Trent tried to catch up with Kira, but she managed to dodge him. She was getting a bit tired of making excuses for him, and with everything else that was going on, it was exhausting trying to second-guess what was going on. She really didn’t feel like being empathetic or understanding after the fight with Elsa and Trent’s suspicious behaviour the night before.

As she hurried down the hallway, it felt like everywhere was full of the buzz of gossip that day, or maybe it always was and Kira had just never bothered to pay attention. Halfway to her next class Kira’s attention was caught by the half-whispered, giggly conversation of two girls behind her.

“Well, Nikki said they’re going to sack him,” one of them was saying.

“What, not that new science teacher, the one with the tatts? But he’s hot!”

“Yeah, and I heard that he hit on Cheryl Armstrong, and he threatened to fail her when she turned him down.”

There was an irritating giggle. “ _I_ wouldn’t have turned him down.”

Kira came to a dead stop and spun on her heel, startling the two juniors into glaring at her.

“What a load of crap,” she snapped at them.

The taller girl snapped back, “What the hell do you know about it?”

“I saw the whole thing, and it sure wasn’t Dr O who was hitting on anyone. I’ll give you one guess who did, though.”

Kira noticed, cynically, the speed with which their expressions changed from annoyance to avid curiosity, and as she turned and stalked away, they had already grabbed another junior and were busily whispering to her. It felt like the rumours were constantly running just ahead of her. There were more whispers as she slid in behind her desk in English, ignoring Trent’s attempts to get her attention, and a dark-haired girl in the short maroon and black cheer uniform skewed around in her seat to glare at Kira. The girl opened her mouth as if she were going to say something, then Miss Morrison called for attention, and she spun back angrily. Kira fixed her attention on the notebook in front of her.

The melody line that she’d been working on for the past few days collided with the memory of dark eyes and a lopsided smile in a flash of inspiration, and the words of the song came to her. All thought of the rumours, and the classwork she was supposed to be doing, were shoved aside

_You gave me something more, More than I’ve ever felt before…_ Kira was scribbling down the words fast before she could forget them, when Trent leaned across the aisle between their desks to tap her on the shoulder. She jumped, losing the thread of the music, and the look that she gave him was more than a little annoyed.

“Trent, not now,” she whispered fiercely back at him. “We’ve both got work to do.”

“You certainly do, Miss Ford,” said a dry voice, and Kira’s head shot up to stare at their English teacher. “Although judging from the song lyrics in front of you, I don’t think that’s what you were actually doing, was it?”

Kira felt her face turning red, and she scowled.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you in detention, Miss Ford. Let’s keep it that way, shall we?” Miss Morrison turned her attention to Trent. “And how about you stop distracting the other students and start focussing on the themes in Romeo and Juliet, Mr Mercer.”

Without waiting for a response, Miss Morrison moved away. Kira kept her head down, refusing to meet Trent’s eye, and did her best to ignore the new song teasing at her as well. When the bell went, she gathered up her books and had made it as far as the cafeteria before Trent caught up with her and grabbed her arm.

Kira looked down at his hand on her arm, and back up at Trent, and the expression in her eyes made him drop his grip.

“I thought out of all of them, you’d support me,” he said a little bitterly, and Kira sighed in exasperation.

“I want to, but you’re not making it easy for any of us, are you? What aren’t you telling us?”

“I did tell you,” he argued, but he must have seen the disbelief in Kira’s expression because his own face clouded over with anger, and he stepped back. “I guess you just don’t want to believe me.”

As Trent pivoted on his heel and strode away, Kira sighed again and turned back to the cafeteria, coming face to face with a very pissed off Cheryl. The dark-haired girl from English was standing at Cheryl’s elbow with her arms crossed and a smug expression.

“Trouble in paradise?” the cheerleader asked in mock concern. “Does Trent know about your thing with Dr Oliver?”

Cheryl was blocking Kira’s path. Kira met the cheerleader’s narrowed eyes with a flat glare of her own.

“You’ve been talking about me, Kira Ford. Big mistake.”

“No, the big mistake was putting the moves on a teacher and then lying about it. I’m not going to let you take down Dr O.”

“And who’s going to believe you over me?”

“I don’t think it’s coming as a shock to anyone that you’ll do just about anything to get your way except, you know, actual work.”

“Or maybe you’re just jealous,” Cheryl sneered. “I heard you both, you know. What was he doing, giving you a lift? Does Randall know that you’re meeting up with Dr Oliver outside school?”

“It’s an extra credit project,” Kira snapped.

“Extra credit _again_?” Cheryl asked, her voice sugar-sweet, and behind her, her posse was watching Kira with bright little smirks. “So what exactly does Dr Oliver make you do for… extra credit?”

It was amazing how dirty Cheryl could make it sound. Kira managed to keep her face expressionless, even while her fingernails cut into her palm, but Cheryl knew she’d scored a hit. She flashed a conspiratorial smile at the dark-haired girl lurking at her side – _Madison_ , Kira finally recalled – and Kira recognised the girl as her drummer’s sister.

There was a crowd gathered around them now.

Excuse me. _Excuse_ me.” Cassidy’s imperative voice was moving through the crush of students, and Kira groaned silently. Why did it have to be so damn hard to stay off the radar?

“Do your parents know you’re earning… extra credit?” Cheryl was saying. “I heard they seemed to be under the impression that you were rehearsing with your little loser band last night. Someone should tell them what their delinquent daughter is really up to.”

Kira opened her mouth, but someone else beat her to it.

“Back off, Cheryl,” Cassidy snapped, “unless you want to be the headline on tomorrow’s newscast.”

“Randall’s on her way,” someone shouted, and Cheryl and her minions were already melting away into the crowd.

Cassidy turned back to Kira.

“Are you ok? You’re really pale. I mean, you always look like Dracula’s Bride, but paler than usual.”

Kira had to assume that Cassidy hadn’t meant it as an insult, but it was hard to tell sometimes.

“Thank you,” she said a little unevenly. “And don’t take this the wrong way, but why did you stick up for me? I thought you didn’t even like me.”

“You did me a pretty big favour, getting me that job interview with Mr Cormier. And, well, Ethan likes you, so you must be alright, even if you are weird.” Cassidy grinned suddenly. “And hey, it’s always worth it to take the smile off Cheryl’s face.”

“So what was Cheryl so worried about?” Kira asked.

“I’m a reporter. We know things,” Cassidy shrugged. “And Cheryl knows what I know, so she doesn’t want to mess with me.”

Kira managed a grin. “I’m really looking forward to watching you on CNN one day.”

Cassidy’s bright expression faded a little at that.

“It’s not like I’m going to get much of a chance,” Cassidy said eventually. “Mr Cormier said I’m fired if I don’t bring him the identities of the Power Rangers within the next two weeks, and it’s not like there’s a whole lot of other media job opportunities in Reefside.”

“Ouch. That’s not very fair,” Kira sympathised. “I wish I could do something to help. But, Cassidy, there’s more to the world than just Reefside.”

Cassidy pasted her indomitable smile back on her face, and turned it on Kira. “Doesn’t matter. Devin and I are just going to have to find those Power Rangers, that’s all. I’ll show Mr Cormier that there’s no stopping Cassidy Cornell.”

Cassidy started to leave, and then turned back.

“Nearly forgot. I was looking for you, so if you can just say yes, then I’ll be done.”

“Yes to what?” Kira asked cautiously.

“To prom, silly. It’s less than two weeks away now.”

“You’re… asking me to prom?”

Cassidy rolled her eyes. “To _perform_ at prom. We have a DJ, but we also need a live act, not too expensive of course, and you and your band are the obvious choice.”

“Because we’re cheap?”

“Because you’re good,” Cassidy explained, as if it should be obvious. “And because Manic Edge cancelled on us. Now, are you in?”

Kira must have agreed to it, because Cassidy abandoned her abruptly to go and buttonhole someone else, and left Kira feeling dazed. Which was the usual effect Cassidy had on people.

She must have still been looking stunned by the time Ethan found her, because he gave her a concerned look.

“Are you okay?” he asked, and she shook herself.

“I’m fine,” she sighed. “Sorry, it’s just been a rough day, and then I got hit with the Cassidy experience.”

Ethan grinned at her. “Yeah, Cassidy’ll do that to you. Are you going to be at Dr O’s after school tomorrow? He said something about needing us all there. It sounds like he’s got something big, but he wouldn’t tell me what it’s all about.”

“If I can persuade Mom to let me out of the house.” She closed her eyes for a moment, and drew a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Cheryl, Trent, Cassidy – it was all a bit much.

“Is today over yet?” she asked plaintively.

 

In the dino lab that evening, Tommy leaned his forehead on the punching bag, closing his eyes with a sigh. The sweat was soaking into his training gloves, and every muscle ached, but he didn’t feel like it had helped much. Hayley glanced at him, and swivelled her chair round to face him.

“So who exactly are you imagining when you’re beating the crap out of that thing?” she asked him drily. He ignored her, trying to muster the energy to keep going.

“I do hear the rumours, you know,” she persisted. “Everyone in the café this afternoon was talking about one of the girls transferring out of your class, but no one seemed to agree on what happened. Although I’ve got a pretty good idea, if it’s the girl I’m thinking of.”

Tommy groaned. Hayley was looking at him in sympathy, clearly waiting for him to say something else.

“I really can’t talk about it. It’s with the school board now and I’m not going to-”

“Yes, but that’s not stopping the cheerleader from talking,” Hayley said bluntly.

“Not much I can do about that,” he said grimly.

Hayley shot him a look. “You know that Kira had a run-in with Cheryl today too, don’t you?”

“Kira did?” he asked a little too quickly. “What happened?”

“The way I heard it, they were yelling at each other in the school corridor, but Cassidy broke it up before Randall found out.”

“Wait, Cassidy did what?” Tommy shook his head. “And Kira was yelling at Cheryl? That doesn’t sound like her.”

And Hayley rolled her eyes at him. “Well, do you really think that Kira would stand by and let a bitch like Cheryl go around badmouthing someone she cares about?” Hayley was watching him as if she were waiting for him to say something, but Tommy was silent, and eventually Hayley rolled her eyes and turned back to the schematics.

“I’m going to miss those three,” she said. “Conner’s got plans here with the Reefside soccer team, and even Ethan is sticking around at least for a while, but their lives are going to change, and Kira’s heading for New York as soon as she graduates. It’s going to be quiet without them hanging around all the time.”

Hayley made a few adjustments, then looked around.

“And what about you, Tommy? I heard rumours of a research position coming up at Natural History that’d be right up your alley. And you could keep an eye on our girl in New York, make sure she’s okay,” she added casually.

“Kira’s tough enough to look after herself,” Tommy responded wryly. “And how do you even know about this stuff? Those positions are rare as hen’s teeth. I’ve heard they hold secret gladiatorial fights to the death as part of the selection process.”

“I have my sources. Are you interested? I could sound a few people out.”

“I think I’ve probably done enough damage in research to last a lifetime.”

“You’re not still beating yourself up about the island, are you?” Hayley stared at him incredulously. “Anton Mercer made a stupid mistake, not you. You didn’t let Mesogog loose. And Smitty made his own choices when he let Mesogog turn him into Zeltrax. It’s only his own warped blindness and jealousy that make him blame you.”

“Maybe…”

“No maybe,” Hayley interrupted.

“But everything Mesogog’s been doing, his tyrannodrones, the things I saw in his lair, it’s all based on work I did and things I built. It’s a little hard to not feel responsible.”

“You do know that you take this whole noble conscience thing a little too far, don’t you?” Hayley shook her head, turning back to her work again.

“Well, if you’re not going to smack the punching bag around anymore today, you can make yourself useful and check those calculations I sent you. I’m not entirely happy with the morphological transformation frequency. I really need the other morphers to compare.”

“You’ll have them tomorrow. The old team will be here after school to meet Kira and the boys. Will you be here too?” he asked.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Hayley said ironically.


	6. Chapter 6

Kira had to climb out her window to get to the meeting at Dr O’s house. Her mother was still suspicious and upset, and Kira was still grounded. She decided that it was just easier to avoid the arguments. The tree outside her window had never presented any challenges, even before she’d picked up all her superpowers, and she swung lightly down the branches to land in a crouch with her bag slung across her chest.

As she moved carefully along the side of the house, she could see the light on in the kitchen, and her mother’s shadow moving across the blind. She crossed the neighbour’s yard out of sight of the house windows like she’d done a hundred times before, and started walking in the direction of Dr O’s house up through the woods at the edge of Reefside. With a quick glance around to make sure that there was no one watching, she let herself into the dino lab through the secret door in the rock face.

As the door swung shut behind her, Kira froze. There was a woman in the lab, one hand on her hip as she looked around with interest at the equipment hanging on the wall and the boxes of rocks and Power Rangers junk. The light caught on her dark brown hair as she reached up to tuck a wayward strand back into the casual twist that Kira was pretty sure wasn’t as effortless as it looked, and even before she turned around, Kira knew who this woman was. The photos she’d seen were about ten years younger, when she was about fifteen, but Kira would recognise this woman anywhere. The signature pink shirt she was wearing with her designer jeans and boots was a bit of a clue.

Kira stood there, staring at Dr O’s first love, and her heart sank. She moved with a gymnast’s grace still, tempered with an assurance that Kira envied. The woman was looking at her in a way that made Kira feel like she was being measured, and Kira fought the urge to brush the dust off her skirt, lifting her chin instead. Then the woman smiled at her.

“Oh, hi! You must be Kira,” the woman said. “Tommy’s told me so much about you – about all of you,” she corrected herself. “I’m-“

“Kimberly Hart.” Kira reluctantly took the hand she was offering.

Kim looked like she belonged in the lab. Kira suddenly felt very out of place, and dropped her bag behind the desk with a disgruntled thunk. This was the one space left to her at the moment where she knew she belonged, where she was herself and had earned her place.

“Trust Tommy to have a secret lab under his house,” Kim said fondly, her fingertips trailing over the benchtop. She bent her head to investigate a jumble of fossils and rock samples that Dr O had left scattered there.

“It’s a bit weird finding a hidden lab under your teacher’s house,” Kira said, trying to keep the tension out of her voice. “This was where we found the dino gems.”

“Oh, I know. Tommy told me about you and the boys breaking in. That first moment is a bit of a shock, isn’t it?”

Kira found herself wondering what else Kim Hart had been told about her.

“Do you miss it?” she asked, and Kim looked up.

“Sometimes. And sometimes not. I don’t miss having to drop everything to go save the world all the time, or having to lie to my friends and family about where I am and what I do. And I don’t miss wondering, every time, whether that’ll be the last time I come home. But I miss my zord,” Kim said a little wistfully, and Kira felt a quick, sympathetic shiver at the thought of losing her zord. “The pterazord. We have that in common.”

“I don’t think any of the guys really understand what it’s like to fly,” Kira added softly, and Kim shot her a look that morphed into something more interrogative.

“It must be hard being the only girl on the team.”

“It has its moments,” Kira said drily.

“And your science teacher is the Black Ranger. I still can’t get over Tommy being a teacher.”

Kim turned to run her hand over the edge of the bench, her attention fixed on it and her lips pursed as if she were working out whether to say something or not.

“It was always hard, keeping the secrets at school. I know people talked when the six of us became friends, and it’s even harder for you guys with a teacher on the team.”

“Everyone just thinks we’re doing a lot of extra study sessions before the finals,” Kira said slowly, wondering where this was going.

“Do they? Tommy didn’t say much, but I know he’s had problems at work lately, and Hayley said there’d been a few rumours going around.”

“Oh, but that wasn’t anything to do with the Rangers,” Kira said. “One of the girls at Reefside tried to make trouble for Dr O, but she hasn’t figured out what’s really going on.”

Kim lifted her hand pacifically. “Sorry,” she said apologetically. “I guess I still get a bit overprotective. I just don’t want Tommy to get hurt, and he’s in a rather vulnerable position, especially if people have noticed that he’s spending a lot more time than usual hanging out with you.”

There was a moment’s silence.

“Wait a minute. Are you suggesting that I could ever hurt Dr O, or any of my team, for that matter?” Kira asked incredulously.

“Oh, not on purpose, but you’ve got to admit it’s hard to avoid rumours when you’ve got to sneak out to fight monsters all the time. I know what it was like for us – the kids at school talk, no matter how careful you are – but it’s even harder for Tommy now. People start talking, and he could lose his job.”

“You think I don’t know this?” Kira said angrily. “As if I’d do anything to-“

She broke off at the sound of noise and laughter from above.

Kira’s nails dug into the palms of her hands. Dr O’s problems weren’t with her, but it was hard to deny that there were whispers and rumours doing the rounds of the school, in spite of everything she’d said to counter them. Cheryl had done her work well.

They both looked around as more people clattered down the stairs. Dr O was grinning at something the stocky, dark-haired man behind him said, and Kira suppressed a sigh of relief when she saw Ethan and Conner with them, and Trent following slowly.

Dr O caught her eyes. “Kira, this is my old team. The original Power Rangers. Kimberly you’ve met, and that’s Jason,” he said, pointing. “And Billy over there. Trini was yellow ranger, and that’s Zack.”

Trini smiled at her, and Zack flipped her a salute. Billy was already huddled over the desk with Hayley, six morphers spread out in front of them, while Ethan hovered at their elbows. Conner shifted to stand with Kira, and she felt a little less out of place for his presence. Trent stayed near the staircase, his hands shoved deep into his pockets and an unreadable expression on his face.

“Guys,” Dr O continued, “this is the Dino Thunder team.”

Jason, the stocky guy, grinned at them. “We’ve heard a lot about you from the Legend here. You’ve got a good team.”

Kim wrinkled her nose at them mischievously. “No Pink Ranger, though.”

“And yet, somehow we survive,” Kira said drily.

There was a snort of laughter from Trini. “I like you, Kira.”

“The old team are dropping off their morphers for the triceramax project,” Dr O explained, “for which we are deeply grateful.”

“It’s a long way to come, just to deliver the morphers,” Kira said, and Jason chuckled.

“Trying to get rid of us?” he joked. “Would you trust your morpher to the UPS? Besides, it’s been far too long since we’ve had an excuse to catch up. Last time was, what? Three years ago?” he threw to the group.

“Zack and Trini’s wedding,” Kim reminded him. “Billy was off-planet for Tommy’s graduation last year, and you couldn’t make it for some reason.”

“So why do you need the morphers?” Zack asked. “Your email was a bit cryptic.”

“You’d have to ask Hayley for the details, but we’ve had insider information,” Dr O flicked a quick glance at Trent, “that Mesogog is developing a laser that could mutate human DNA and fuse it with dinosaur genes.”

"Jeez, seriously? What is it with villains and turning humans into mutants?” Zack sighed.

“Mesogog’s technology is all taken from the research and experiments I was doing with my old morpher,” Dr O added a little grimly. “So we’re hoping that the rest of the original morphers will be the key to countering him.”

“I just wish Mesogog had chosen a better time to do the whole world domination thing,” complained Conner. “We’ve got exams coming up.”

“Yeah, well, end of the world or not, you’re going to have to do better than you did on the mid-terms,” Dr O threw back, the tension in his eyes easing a little.

“I still can’t get over you being a teacher,” Kim teased. “Whatever happened to that dig you were planning in Colorado?”

“Mesogog happened.”

“I can’t believe you’ve been called back into action again,” said Zack. “What is this, your fifth time round? Tommy Oliver’s back to save the day.”

“Hardly,” Dr O said mildly. “Mostly, I think I’ve been the one getting saved.”

“You never could say no, could you?” Jason laughed. “The first hint of someone in trouble or a damsel in distress, and you’d be suiting up before we’d even figured out what was going on.”

Zack chuckled. “Oh god, do you remember Skull in that pink dress and the blonde wig, trying to trick the Rangers into turning up to rescue him?”

“And Bulk getting his head stuck in his dragon costume?” Trini was laughing too, and Kira couldn’t help smiling at their descriptions of the hapless Ranger-hunters. Her smile faded as Kim leaned in to Dr O.

“All I know is that I was really grateful you came to my rescue when I got kidnapped by Lord Zedd,” Kim said, looking up at Kira’s teacher with a bright light in her eyes. Zack snorted.

“Which time, Kim?”

“Zack.” Trini dug him in the ribs.

“Look, I’m not saying Kim did it on purpose, but I lost count of the times she got kidnapped or trapped by the bad guys and Tommy did the whole noble hero thing. It was very ro-man-tic,” he drew the word out mockingly.

“Hey!” Kim complained, and Kira got the feeling that there was real annoyance behind her smile.

“Kim, you full-on fainted when you found out that Tommy was the White Ranger,” Zack reminded her with a smirk. “We turned around and Bam! Kimberly all over the floor. Yellow Rangers never seem to have the same problem, am I right?” He turned to Trini and Kira, an eyebrow comically raised.

“Hey, if I’d waited for these guys to rescue me, I’d still be stuck in Mesogog’s lair,” Kira kidded. “I prefer to rescue myself.”

Discussion turned to how long they were all in town, and plans to catch up for dinner. Kira shifted uncomfortably, and from the glance she shot him, Conner was feeling a little out of place in this meeting too, although Ethan seemed oblivious, caught up in studying the morphers. This was Dr O’s real team, and Kira and the boys were the inexperienced kids he was stuck with mentoring. His students. Kira glanced over at the stairs and realised that at some point Trent had disappeared.

“We’re doing pizzas and catching up tonight, but you are hanging out with us tomorrow, aren’t you?” Kim was saying to Dr O.

“I can’t. I have work, and I can’t afford any more sick days right now. But I’ll see you guys for dinner tomorrow night before you have to leave.”

“And you should come down to the Cyber Café,” Hayley said briskly. “Kira’s performing tomorrow afternoon, if you’re around.”

“You’re a musician?” Trini asked with interest, and Kira felt herself blushing.

“Yeah.”

“So what are you planning on doing after you graduate, Kira?” Trini asked.

Kira turned to her. “I’m hoping for a recording contract. I’ve got a few contacts who said they might be able to help me, once school’s finished, and Hayley’s got her feelers out for me.”

Kim laughed.

“Well, that explains the grunge rock look,” she said blithely.

And Kira stiffened. Trini shot her friend a look, but Kim was still talking.

“Do you remember that song I wrote for you?” she was asking Dr O. As Kira watched Dr O laugh with Kim over the memory, the lab felt way too crowded and oddly airless.

Kim slid her arms around Dr O’s waist, and he absently hugged her back.

“So you’re teaching all day tomorrow? Do your kids give you as hard a time as we gave our teachers?”

“Do you give me a hard time?” Dr O turned to ask Kira, his mouth quirking in a tiny smile as his eyes met hers, and for a moment she smiled back and felt a little better, until Kim claimed his attention again.

“I bet you’ve got the girls falling all over you at Reefside, and you don’t even know it. You just be careful, Tommy, or you’re going to get yourself into a whole lot of trouble,” Kim teased Dr O, but for one long moment Kim’s eyes met Kira’s with a direct look that could have been a challenge, and Kira read her message loud and clear. Kira was the trouble that Tommy should be watching out for.

None of the guys noticed anything, but Trini was watching Kim with a slight frown.

Kira dropped her chin and levelled a flat stare at the former Pink Ranger. There was a moment when she was tempted to do battle, but it passed quickly.

_Breathe in. Breathe out._ She grabbed her bag from where she’d slung it under the desk and swung it over her shoulder as she headed for the stairs.

“Kira, you’re leaving?” Kim asked, and Kira turned back briefly.

“I’ve got homework,” she said flatly. “I’ll leave you to the pizzas and damsel in distress stories. I don’t really have anything to contribute there, but I’m sure you’ve got plenty more to tell.”

She clipped her mouth shut before she could say anything that she’d really regret, and hurried up the stone staircase.

“Kira?”

She ignored Dr O, and kept going as Kim called out to her. As the door snapped shut behind her, she could hear Trini saying, “Don’t look at me, Kim. You had that coming.”


	7. Chapter 7

It had been a late night catching up with his old team, and the litter of bottles and empty pizza boxes scattered around the kitchen brought a reminiscent smile to Tommy’s face, but he was definitely feeling the worse for wear by the time he made it to work.

The glare of the fluorescent lights in the classroom was offensively bright, and his students seemed louder than usual. There was a string of texts on his phone from the old team, teasing him about being at work on such a nice day, and a photo that Jason had sent him of the five of them sitting on the motel balcony, surrounded by a late breakfast.

Zack had sent a message that made Tommy swear, and burst out laughing, and one of the kids in the front row looked up, startled.

“Just pretend you didn’t hear that,” Tommy whispered to the kid, and he quickly texted back a rude reply to Zack.

He didn’t have the senior class for science that day, and didn’t see any sign of the Dino Thunder team until he made it to the Cyber Café after school to get some work done before meeting up with the old team that night.

Tommy settled into the ratty old couch with his laptop. He could see Ethan already glued to one of the computers in the corner, and Conner on the other side of the café, laughing with some of the soccer team. There was quite a crowd there to listen to the band that afternoon, and the constant chatter and clink of glasses died down a little as Kira struck the first chords on her guitar.

Then she started to sing, and Tommy leaned back to listen, the senior exam he was supposed to be writing forgotten.

By the time the set finished, and Kira dropped into the sofa opposite him, still a little flushed with the buzz of performing, Tommy hadn’t made much progress.

“It’s sounding good,” he told her, and a tentative smile flickered at the corners of her mouth.

“Really? ‘Cause I thought that the phrasing in the second verse was a little awkward.” Kira started fiddling absently with the frayed armrest of the couch, and Tommy waited.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” she said eventually. “It was just getting a bit crowded in the Batcave.”

She was still focused on the couch, her finger moving over the faded piping. “It must be nice to see your old team again.”

“It’s always good to see them.” He tilted his head to catch her eye. “What was going on with you and Kim? It’s not like you to overreact like that.”

Kira grimaced.

“It’s not just Kim, though, is it?” he asked.

“Not entirely,” Kira admitted reluctantly. “Stuff at home, stuff at school. It’s been a rough week.”

“Anything I can help with?”

Kira gave a strained smile.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle, but -“ She broke off, her smile fading out, and he wasn’t entirely surprised when Kim rounded the corner of the couch.

“There you are,” Kim said, sinking down elegantly beside him. “Of all the gin joints in all the world, and you have to hang out in the most teenage dive in town. Something’s come up, and I have to head home, but I’ve been trying to find you before my flight.”

Kira pushed herself to her feet.

“I’ll leave you to it,” she said expressionlessly, and Kim looked up at her, giving the younger girl a dazzling smile that Tommy recognised from their teenage years as her ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ smile.

“Hey, Kira, I caught part of your set. You’ve got a lovely voice.”

Kira gave her a small, unfriendly nod of recognition, and stalked away to the bar.

“Oh, dear. I don’t think your Yellow Ranger likes me much,” Kim said a little ruefully. Tommy sighed, shifting his gaze back to the woman at his side.

“I don’t know what was going on yesterday,” he said, “but Kira doesn’t tend to react like that unless she’s got good reason. We’re all under more than a bit of pressure right now.”

“You really think Mesogog’s going to play his end game soon?”

“It’s looking that way.”

Kim was watching him with a small frown. “Are you going to be ready?”

“I hope so. I think so. As ready as we ever were.” He shifted, running a hand through his hair. “Hayley’s pulling off her usual miracles, and she and Billy seem to have something worked out now. And this team… Kim, they’re good. They’re amazing, and this team works together in ways we could only dream of back in the day.”

“But?” she asked gently, and Tommy frowned at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Look, I know it’s been a while, but I do know you. And I know that look in your eyes. What are you worrying about?”

Tommy dropped his gaze to his hands, his frown deepening.

“Maybe I should have quit while I was ahead,” he confessed quietly. “Mesogog, all his minions… it’s all come from my research and my experiments. If I hadn’t been so caught up in trying to build something to give the next Rangers the advantage, maybe Conner and Ethan and Kira wouldn’t have been called into action.”

Kim’s hand closed over his.

“‘Maybe’ is a pointless game to play,” she said. “Maybe if you hadn’t been there, these kids would have been called anyway without you to mentor them and give them the edge they’re going to need to survive this. Who knows?”

Tommy squeezed her hand gently, and his mouth lifted in a smile. “I’ve missed you, Kim.”

“Of course you have,” she teased. “I’m unforgettable.”

There was a long pause while she stared down at their linked fingers.

“Do you ever wonder what might have happened if we’d, oh, stayed together? Got married?”

Before he could stop himself, Tommy gave a smothered snort of laughter.

“Seriously? Kim, we would have strangled each other within the first month.”

 

Kira looked back over her shoulder just in time to see the former Pink Ranger bend down smoothly to kiss Dr O’s cheek.

“I really don’t like her,” Kira muttered into her milkshake, but Hayley heard her.

“Who, Kim?”

“She’s too damn perfect. And she makes me feel like such a kid.”

“Well, technically you are still a kid.”

Kira ignored Hayley. “I’ve worked hard, haven’t I? I’ve earned my stripes as a Ranger. So how come as soon as she walks in the door I just want to stick out my tongue and make rude noises? I _really_ don’t like her.”

“And she was Tommy Oliver’s first love.” Hayley tilted a knowing eyebrow as Kira groaned and buried her face in her arms.

“So not relevant,” she muttered, and Hayley’s eyebrow climbed higher.

“Isn’t it?”

“Oh god, is it that obvious?”

“Well, I don’t think Tommy’s figured it out yet, but then he’s a bit slow on the uptake sometimes,” Hayley teased, but when Kira made a muffled noise of despair she took pity on the younger girl, patting her on the shoulder. “You hide it well, Kira, but don’t forget it’s my job to know things. I’ve seen how you look at him, and I knew it wasn’t going anywhere with you and Trent.”

“Argh!” Kira muttered into her sleeve.

They were interrupted as Kim came towards them, and Hayley turned to the former Pink Ranger. Kira looked back down at her glass, and tried to pretend that she wasn’t listening in.

“You’re heading out?”

“I have to leave earlier than I’d planned. My flight’s in two hours.”

“It was good to see you again, Kim. And thanks for the morphers.”

“Well, they’re not much more than souvenirs to us now, so if they can help you – “

“Oh, they will.”

Kira saw Kim shoot a look back at the couch where Dr O was staring blankly at his laptop, his hands steepled in front of him.

“Just… look after him, Hayley. I don’t think I’ve really got to the bottom of what’s bothering him, but I’ve never seen him this stressed out.”

“Well, impending doom, end of life as we know it, Mesogog bringing back the Age of the Dinosaurs… it’s making all of us a little tense, Kim.”

“Yes, but he’s done all that before. This is different.” Kira caught the look that Kim turned in her direction, and pretended that she wasn’t listening. “Something’s different. I know a big part of it is that he’s feeling guilty about what happened on the island, but it’s more than that. It’s like he’s lost his focus.”

“You know, it might not be a bad thing if Tommy’s learning to let go a bit,” Hayley said drily. “He’s a bit too driven, when it comes to Ranger business. It used to drive me crazy at MIT, how single-minded he could be.”

“And he’s always been like that, the dedicated Ranger,” Kim agreed, “which is probably why he keeps getting called back into action over and over again. Tommy’s always going to be there, doing the right thing for everyone else until the end of the world. If I’m honest, that was sort of what broke us up – he’s just too damn noble for words. He’d never have left the Rangers to be with me, although for a while I kind of hoped he would come after me. It was never going to happen though. He’s always been the consummate Ranger in thought, word and deed.”

Hayley made a sound that might have been agreement.

“I’m just hoping he’s not going to do anything stupid,” Kim shrugged helplessly, and Hayley levelled a look at her.

“Well, if anyone’s earned the right to be a bit selfish, it’s him. And it’s not like you have a say in it anymore, is it?”

Kim gave a half-laugh, half-sigh. “Not except as a friend who cares. That ship has long sailed, even if I ever wanted anything else, and it’s probably just as well. Tommy was right about one thing – we would have strangled each other within a month if we’d ever been foolish enough to get married.”

Kira let out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding as Kim leaned across the counter to hug Hayley goodbye. She refused to admit, even to herself, that what she was feeling was relief.

She looked up to find the older, auburn-haired woman watching her, and Hayley must have seen something in Kira’s face, because she reached out a sympathetic hand to the younger girl.

“Oh, Kira, honey, you’ve got it bad, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, well, there’s no point thinking about it. It’s not like I’ve ever thought he’d look at me like that.”

“Are you so sure about that?”

“Seriously?” Kira shot back incredulously. “Have you forgotten? He’s my teacher. I don’t think Dr O needs any more drama at school, without me adding to it. Cheryl’s already making his life difficult without another student crush to add to the collection.”

“You’re not going to be his student for much longer,” Hayley pointed out gently.

“Yes. But I’ll still be the same snarky, stupid freak in yellow.” Kira gestured hopelessly at the door that Kim Hart had just walked out of. “You’ve seen the kind of women he falls for. Beautiful, smart, talented. Someone who knows the right moment to faint,” she added derisively.

“You know Kim’s not that helpless,” Hayley said mildly.

Kira sighed. “I know. It’d be easier if she was. It’s just, even for Dr O, I couldn’t do the damsel in distress thing.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Hayley responded tartly. “Tommy doesn’t need more people to rescue in his life. He needs someone to save him from his own overinflated nobility.”

“And you think that’s me?” Kira asked incredulously. “Why?”

Hayley opened her mouth to say something, then closed it as if she’d changed her mind.

“That’s for you to decide for yourself,” she said eventually.

Kira’s gaze dropped back to the counter.

“It’s not like it matters. It’d never happen,” she said hopelessly.

There was silence while Kira stared at the glass between her hands, and Hayley wiped down the counter.

“So, Hayley,” Kira asked with a painful nonchalance, “at college. Did you and Dr O ever… date?”

“Tommy and me? God, no! That would have been way too weird.”

“Weird?”

Hayley avoided eye contact. “Are you done with that glass, Kira?”

“Hayley?”

“You should check your morpher,” Hayley said brightly, and Kira narrowed her eyes.

“You’re avoiding the question.”

“No, really.” Hayley pointed to Kira’s wrist with the tea towel she was holding. “Looks like something’s happening.”

As her morpher lit up again, Kira could see Dr O get purposefully to his feet from the couch. In the corner where the computers were, she heard Ethan swear, and the faint sound of explosions as he pulled his headphones free.

Kira swung around and dropped off the stool she was sitting on, as Hayley added a soft “Stay safe!” She gave the red-headed woman a half-hearted smile, and dodged between the tables to where Dr O was holding the door for her, watching her with that lopsided grin that always did things to her. Time to go to work.

 

“So they’ve all gone?” Hayley asked, not looking up from the microscope.

“Trini and Zack and Billy flew out this afternoon,” Tommy said. “Trini’s got a connecting flight in LA, and Billy’s… not saying where he’s going after this. So it’s probably going to be a while before we manage to get together again.”

“It must have been nice to see the old crew again. Kim’s looking well.”

“What are you up to, Hayley?”

“Me? Nothing. Just a perfectly innocent observation. Have you talked to Kira today?”

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no reason.”

Tommy fixed her with a flat look, which she refused to acknowledge, and eventually he gave up and turned his attention to the old morphing cuff under the microscope.

“Have you found the key yet?” he asked.

“Still looking,” she responded distantly.


	8. Chapter 8

It was getting harder to ignore the fact that the gossip was everywhere now. Kira walked through the school halls, massaging the forearm she’d bruised when she’d backfisted the crab mutant the day before, and it felt like every second person turned to watch her go past. Her expression must have been as scary as it felt, because most of the kids who made the mistake of catching her eye turned away abruptly. The indecipherable whispers followed Kira like a wave.

She shoved a few books into her locker with unnecessary force, then stood staring at the posters she’d stuck in there, trying to work up the will to go to class and face the day, and the staring, and the gossip.

Kira froze, her hand clenching on the edge of her locker door, when she heard the group of guys around the corner mention her name. In spite of her best intentions, she found herself listening in; it wasn’t like they were trying to be quiet about it. One of the voices was Conner’s, and she recognised the soccer vice captain’s voice as well.

“Yeah, well, I heard Dr O’s hooking up with that rock chick, you know, the one you hang out with sometimes, Con-man.”

“With Kira?” Conner’s bray of laughter reached her around the corner. “Seriously, dude.”

“And anyway, did you see that older babe he was hanging out with at the Cyber Café?” someone else was saying. “Stacked as! No way I’d be looking at any of the chicks at our school if I had that waiting for me…”

“And anyway, Kira’s into Trent Mercer,” Conner said.

“I thought Dr O was dating Randall,” someone else was saying.

“Principal Randall? No way!”

Kira shut her locker door with a bang, and there was Cheryl, her arms crossed, watching Kira. The cheerleader said, “Everyone’s talking, you know.”

“Are you stalking me now?” Kira snapped back.

“Do you think no one’s noticed that your science teacher hangs out with you and your loser friends more than he does with people his own age? And don’t think I haven’t noticed how you both sneak out at the same time, and no one can find either of you.”

“But I’m with Trent,” Kira lied, and Cheryl sneered.

“Do you think I _care_?” the cheerleader snapped back. “Something’s going on with you and your precious Dr Oliver, and I am so going to find out what you’re up to and destroy you both. No one messes with me and gets away with it. I’m just waiting for you to screw up. It shouldn’t take long.”

Cheryl’s expression changed as Conner came to stand beside Kira, and her attention turned on the school’s soccer star. “If you ever get bored with the emo loser,” she purred at him, “come find me.”

Conner was staring at Cheryl as the cheerleader flicked her long red hair back and walked away, his expression a little blank, and Kira’s bad mood bubbled up. She slugged him in the ribs.

“Jeez, Kira!” he complained, rubbing his side, and she glared at him.

“Where are the rest of your friends?” she snapped, and he lifted an eyebrow in confusion. “Gone to check out babes at the Café?”

Some of the confusion cleared from Conner’s face. “So you heard that?”

“It was a bit hard not to,” she grumbled. “Bad enough for me, but it could really hurt Dr O if rumours like that get around.”

Conner slung an arm around Kira’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said breezily. “No one seriously thinks anything’s going on with you and Dr O. And as long as they don’t figure out what we’re really doing, does it really matter?”

Kira shoved his arm away, but Conner shrugged and grinned at her as they started to walk down the hall together. His attention slid away, and his grin widened as they passed a group of girls who all blushed and giggled.

“Ladies,” he nodded at them. Kira ignored them all.

“Do you think,” she said slowly, “that Cheryl knows anything about the Power Rangers?”

It was interesting, Kira thought, to see how fast the broad, cocky grin changed to the intent focus of the team leader.

“Did she say anything that makes you think she does? Is that what that was all about?”

“Not exactly. It’s just… Look, I said something about her, and now she’s got it in for me. It seems like everywhere I go, there’s Cheryl, and I’m worried that she’s going to figure something out.”

“Cassidy and Devin have been trying to work out who we are for months now, and they haven’t got it yet,” he pointed out. “Just be extra careful, if she’s watching you. Try not to do anything suspicious.”

Kira pulled a face at him. “Don’t underestimate Cassidy. She’s smarter than she lets on, and she’s not going to give up.”

“I’m more worried right now about what Trent’s up to. Do you have any idea what’s going on with him?”

“Why would I know what’s up with Trent?” Kira said in exasperation, and Conner raised an eyebrow at her.

“Well, you do spend a lot of time together. And I thought he was, like,” Conner waved his hands vaguely, “ _Oh wow!_ ”

Kira sighed. “Fine, I admit I thought he was hot back when we first met him, and I know he’s got all sorts of problems with his dad, but there’s only so far _oh wow_ can go if I can’t trust him. And honestly, I’m just a bit over the whole mysterious and brooding thing.”

Conner gave her a sympathetic look.

“The course of true love sure isn’t easy, is it?” he said, and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “And don’t worry about those stupid rumours. The idea of you and Dr O hooking up is so ridiculous that everyone will have forgotten about it by tomorrow.”

He flashed her a grin and walked away, leaving Kira to stare into space.

“Yeah, ridiculous,” she said bleakly.


	9. Chapter 9

Tommy finished the diagram on the board and turned back to the class. There was a ripple of mostly subdued chatter, undercut by a faint, syncopated tapping. Sure enough, Kira was tapping her pen on her book, humming something under her breath, and Tommy grinned.

That was the moment Kira glanced up and caught his eye. She dropped her gaze back to the desk, pen silent now. Tommy felt his smile die.

Trent leaned over to mutter something to Kira and she shook her head.

“Dr O?” Conner was standing in front of his desk, his face concerned. “You okay? Is it Mesogog?”

“What? No.” Tommy pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just got stuff on my mind.”

And Conner’s expression shifted to one of conspiratorial understanding. “It’s Kim Hart, isn’t it?” he stage whispered.

Tommy stifled a sigh as Conner winked at him.

“Conner, haven’t you got work to do?”

Conner held his hands up and grinned. “Hey, as long as it isn’t Principal Randall, I’m not saying anything.”

The bell rang, and with considerable relief Tommy waved Conner aside.

“Time to pack it up, people,” he called to the class, drowned out by the clatter and shuffle of everyone getting to their feet. “Just don’t forget to grab your last essay from me before you go.”

Tommy stood at the door, handing papers back to the students as they filed past.

As he gave Kira hers, he held it a moment longer. “Kira, I’d like a word if you’ve got a moment.”

Kira opened her mouth as if to speak, and froze as her gaze shifted past him, but when he turned to look all he could see was a few students still lingering in the corridor, and one of the cheerleaders smirking like a cat that ate the cream. Kira stepped back abruptly.

“Sorry, Dr O, can it wait? I’ve got… I’m… supposed to be somewhere.”

She tucked her head down, ignoring the lift of his eyebrow as she pushed past him and almost ran.

By the time Tommy had dealt with the last students, handed back the last papers, shoved his own notes and books back into his bag, the hallway was empty. There were the muffled sounds of classes going on behind the closed doors, and the distant noise from the school office, but Tommy only saw a couple of hurrying students who threw him guilty looks as he strode past them.

There was one student, however, still leaning heavily against her locker as he drew closer. Kira’s shoulders were hunched, and she didn’t seem to know he was there until he grabbed her arm and pivoted her into a nearby storeroom, flicking on the light as the door clicked shut behind them.

Kira wrenched her arm free and turned on him.

“Are you out of your mind?!” she snarled quietly. “Do you have any idea how this would look if we were seen?”

“Then talk fast and tell me what’s going on,” he said, trying to stay calm. “You haven’t turned up to training all week, and you’ve been avoiding me at school. You’ve been dodging Conner and Ethan, and even Trent says he’s barely seen you.”

Kira rolled her eyes.

“I haven’t been at training, because I’ve been grounded six ways to Sunday because every damn time my curfew comes up I’m fighting Mesogog’s minions.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me? I could talk to your parents, tell them you’ve been working on a couple of extra credit projects…”

“No!” she cut him off, an odd look flashing across her face. “You can’t talk to my parents!”

“But why – “

At that inauspicious moment, his morpher buzzed, and Kira glanced down at the gem flashing gold on her wrist.

“This conversation isn’t finished,” Tommy warned, and cautiously opened the door. The corridor was empty still, but he froze at the distant sound of running feet until he was certain that they weren’t coming any closer. He pushed the storeroom door wider, and as he ran for the front entrance he could feel Kira close on his heels.

She was at his side as they hit the top of the steps outside, both of them quickly assessing the situation. There was a horde of tyrannodrones swarming the fence and dropping into the school carpark. Some were chasing screaming kids across the quad, and blocking the entrance to the school was a huge… thing. It looked like a cactus and a spider had melted together. It was cackling madly.

Tommy and Kira glanced at each other, and ran for the relative quiet of the school gym. Out of sight, they quickly transformed. Tommy’s morpher immediately lit up with a call from Conner, and another from Trent.

Tommy swore softly, and Kira tilted her head at him.

“What’s up?” she asked impatiently.

“Two more tyrannodrone attacks, downtown in the business district, and over on Main Street. I’ve sent Conner and Ethan to Main Street, and Trent’s taking care of downtown.”

“Three attacks at once?” Tommy could hear the frown in Kira’s voice. “That’s not normal.”

“No, but it does suggest that Mesogog really is winding up for his end game. But we can figure this out later. Right now, we need to get out there and defend the school.”

“Do we have to?” Kira complained, but she was hard on his heels as he ran towards the sounds of mutant-inspired chaos.

 

Kira moved fast, flipping over two tyrannodrones and planting a swift roundhouse kick on a third. There was chaos all around her, kids she knew running everywhere. A couple of them were trying to hide under one of the benches, and Kira vaulted over them to knock out the creature reaching for them. She took a blow on her shoulder and staggered for a heartbeat, spinning clear and throwing one of her pteragrips at the tyrannodrone trying to climb the school steps, knocking it flying.

Another student was stuck in the path of the hybrid monster that was capering through the school gate towards them now. Kira was moving, all fluid action, before she realised that the girl frozen in fear was Cheryl. She spun in front of Cheryl, flinging up an arm to catch the spiked limb crashing down towards the cheerleader. The pain sent her vision black for an instant.

Cheryl was still standing there, staring at the school parking lot.

“My car,” the cheerleader said in disbelief. “It fucking stepped on my car!”

“Are you kidding me?” Kira shouted at her. “Get moving, or it’s going to step on you as well!”

She shoved Cheryl towards the school. The cactus-thing swung again, and Kira danced out of reach. Behind her, Cheryl was finally moving, running in the right direction toward the safety of the school building, and then the Black Ranger was beside Kira.

Dr O closed with the creature, keeping its attention, as Kira swept its tentacles aside, tangling them into useless flailing. The creature tried to rush past them, and met the solid force of Dr O’s roundhouse, knocking it backwards. With a fraction of a moment to make the clear shot, Kira pulled her laser blaster and calmly shot the creature square in the chest.

The cactus-thing collapsed in defeat. But of course, it was never that simple. Kira let out an exasperated sigh as the creature inevitably swelled into gigantic monstrosity and towered over them.

As Kira stared up at the now enormous cactus-spider, she could hear Dr O beside her, calling in the team. She turned on her heel and ran as her own pterazord touched down in the school driveway, stirring dust in a huge cloud around it. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the red tyrannozord stomping across the horizon towards the school, and the giant black zord reared up, casting everything into shadow. Kira could see the Black Ranger sprinting towards his zord as she lightly vaulted into the cockpit and sent her own zord spiralling up into the sky.

Time to end this fight.


	10. Chapter 10

In the wake of the battle, Kira stared at the string of missed calls from her mother.

Students and teachers were starting to emerge from the school and pick their way through the carnage of property damage. There was the noise of people talking, exclaiming, shouting, but Kira ignored it all and quickly played the first message. Second message… third message… Her mother’s recorded voice was getting more and more strained.

“Kira, what’s wrong?” Dr O was saying, and it felt as though his voice was coming from a long way away. “Kira?”

She started as his hand touched her arm.

“My dad’s in the hospital,” she said distantly. “He was hurt in the downtown attack, I don’t know how badly, but Mom said he’s in emergency.”

She was barely aware of Dr O guiding her towards his jeep, or the trip to the hospital, and she had very little idea of how they got there until Dr O was shepherding her through the hospital corridors of scrubbed white walls that had the sharp smell of disinfectant and messed with her sense of direction.

Kira was vaguely aware of Dr O stopping to ask something at the desk. Her eyes blindly followed a nurse in blue scrubs pushing a wheelchair briskly down the hall, until Dr O’s hand on her arm drew her down more of the twisting maze, past glimpses of hospital beds through half-open doors and the sound of restless patients and the soft blip of machines. He stopped her, and reached past to open the door of the room her father had been moved to.

Kira froze in the doorway, chilled by how still her father was in the hospital bed. Machines beeped quietly, and she took a reluctant step forward.

“Oh god,” she whispered. “I should have been there.”

Behind her, she could feel Dr O’s hand on her back, warm and comforting.

“You’re doing everything you can, Kira,” he said, his voice a little hoarse. “This isn’t your fault. This is Mesogog. We can’t be everywhere.”

Kira reached out hesitantly to touch her father’s hand lying on the white sheet and thin blanket covering him. It scared her a little how perfectly smooth the blankets were; there was no movement in the bed to disturb them.

“What is the point of being a Ranger if we can’t even protect the people we care about?” she asked bitterly. Underneath her hand, her father’s fingers twitched.

There was a faint breath, “Kira…”

Kira stared desperately at her father’s face, looking for any more signs of consciousness, but he was gone again, his breathing shallow.

“We do what we can,” Dr O said softly, and his hand was still on her back as if he was trying to will strength into her. “We do everything we can to take down the bad guys and protect everyone. That’s why we try so hard to not escalate the fights until the monsters force us to, because when the giant monsters show up and the Megazords come into play it’s not just the Rangers and the evil minions getting thrown around anymore – neighbourhoods get destroyed and people get hurt.”

“Then we need to take down Mesogog,” Kira said savagely, “before anyone else gets hurt.”

“We’re working hard to make that happen. Hayley’s doing everything she can to build what we need to stop him, and we’ll be ready when she does.”

“Will we?” Kira turned to Dr O, fighting to not cry, when a sound at the door made her look around.

“Kira?” Her mom was standing in the doorway with a cup of coffee, and Dr O’s hand dropped from Kira’s shoulder. She missed the warmth.

“Your mom’s here now,” he said quietly. “I should get back to school, check on things there. Will you be okay?”

Kira nodded reluctantly, and Dr O turned to her mother, offering her a hand to shake.

“Mrs Ford, I’m Tommy Oliver. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help, and I hope your husband has a fast recovery.”

Kira’s mother murmured something in response, and waited until he had left before she looked at her daughter.

“Kira, who was that?” she asked distrustfully. “Is he the reason you’ve been missing curfew and sneaking out of the house?”

Kira stared at her mother in dismay. “God, Mom! No! Dr O is one of my teachers. I was at school when I got your messages, and he offered to bring me here. He was just being nice.”

“He looks far too young to be a teacher,” her mom said sceptically.

“He’s a brilliant palaeontologist, and we’re lucky to have him at Reefside,” Kira argued passionately. “Science class doesn’t actually suck this year, and if I don’t fail the final exams it’ll be because of Dr O.” Her mother didn’t look as if she quite believed her, and Kira felt a stab of hurt. Was this what it had come to between them?

“Mom, what happened with Dad?” Kira asked, trying to deflect the argument.

Her mother drew a deep breath and let it out, looking down at the cup in her hands as if she’d forgotten it was there.

“There was a monster attack downtown, and your father’s offices were evacuated, but he was one of the last ones out and he got hit. Your dad’s been unconscious since they brought him here. He’s stable for now, but the doctor can’t tell when or if he’s going to come out of it. It was a head injury.”

Her mother’s mouth tightened with pain, and she looked over at the still figure in the bed.

“One of the Power Rangers was there, but he didn’t even stay to see if everyone was okay,” she said bitterly.

Kira swallowed, and her voice cracked a little as she said, “He had to leave! Our school was under attack.”

In the hospital light, it looked like her mother’s face turned grey at that news, and Kira felt guilty for dumping it on her.

“Three attacks in one day. It’s getting worse,” her mother breathed. “It feels like Reefside just isn’t safe anymore, even with the Rangers around. What’s going to happen to us all if something happens to the Rangers, or if they leave us?”

“They won’t!” Kira protested. “The Rangers would never just leave Reefside. They’re doing everything they possibly can.”

“But what if that isn’t enough?”

And that was Kira’s constant fear. No matter how laughable those creatures seemed, with their cartoonish mash of features and silly voices, they were dangerous. People got hurt, and now one of Mesogog’s creatures had put Kira’s father in hospital.

Mesogog was getting worse. Dr O and Hayley were convinced that the evil mutant monster was preparing for something big, and Kira was growing more scared by the day that they wouldn’t be able to stop him.

It was hard, going to school the next day knowing that her father was still lying in his hospital bed with little change in his condition. And everywhere she turned she seemed to run into either Cheryl or her friends. Why couldn’t the universe cut her a break?

A knot of them were huddling around the lockers, blocking her path. For one brief moment, Kira’s footsteps faltered, then she gripped her book bag tighter and made herself move forwards.

As she drew closer, Kira could hear them talking.

One of Cheryl’s minions was saying, “The Yellow Ranger saved you? Oh my god, Cheryl! That’s amazing!”

“Yeah, not amazing enough to save my car, though,” Cheryl sniped. “Have you seen it? It’s got a monster footprint right on the hood! That bitch at the insurance company says I’m not covered for monster damage, and my dad’s refusing to get me a new car.”

All Kira could see for a moment was the image of her father lying in that hospital bed, one of Mesogog’s victims, while she’d been busy saving Cheryl’s ungrateful ass. Dimly, she could feel her fingernails bite into her palm. Then one of the girls noticed Kira and nudged Cheryl, whose smile turned vicious. Cheryl whispered something back to her friend, and they both laughed.

Kira turned on her heel and walked away before she could humiliate herself by crying in front of those bitches.


	11. Chapter 11

Tommy caught Conner’s eye and tilted his head slightly at Kira’s empty chair. There was a fractional shrug and a headshake from Conner, and Tommy waved him to his seat, frowning slightly. He glanced at Trent, but the boy was looking worried too.

There was no sign of her all through the lesson, and Tommy moved through the class on autopilot until the bell went. The moment the last student left, he went looking for her.

When Tommy finally found her, Kira was huddled in the corner of the music room, her guitar on her lap. The only light in the windowless room was the hallway light shining through the glass panel in the door, and he didn’t realise she was crying silently until he was standing in front of her. In that moment he didn’t see his student, or even the fierce, brilliant Ranger that he mentored. He saw Kira, fragile and hurting, and his heart ached for her.

Without thinking about it, he dropped to his knees in front of her, his arms going around her with the guitar between them. Carefully, he put the guitar to one side and gently pulled her to her feet. He could feel the tears soaking silently into his shoulder as she leaned into him. His arms tightened around her as she shook with sobs, and her hands closed around his back, clutching at his shirt.

“It’s going to be okay, Kira,” he breathed softly into her hair. “Your dad’s going to be okay.”

Eventually, Kira’s ragged breathing against his shoulder slowed and steadied. Outside the music room, muffled as if the sound came from a long way away, they could hear the shrill of the school bell and the building clamour of students spilling into the halls on their way to the next class. Kira’s hands tightened briefly on his back, then let go reluctantly.

“You’d better go,” she said, her voice drained. “You’ve got a geology class in a minute.”

Tommy stepped back and lowered his hands carefully to his sides. Kira brushed back a strand of dark blonde hair that had stuck to her damp cheek.

“Sorry about your wet shirt,” she said, her voice wobbling a little.

“Are you going to be okay?” he asked quietly, and she nodded. She tipped her head towards the door.

“I’ll be fine. And you’d better go before someone comes looking for you.”

Tommy reached for the doorhandle, his eyes still on Kira as she tried to smile for him. He pulled the door open and strode away, hardly seeing anything around him.

 

Kira took a deep breath, swiping away the last traces of tears before she pulled the music room door open.

“Oh. My. God.”

And there was Cheryl leaning casually against the lockers beside the classroom, a long-legged bad dream with her mobile in one hand.

“You really are screwing the science teacher,” she said triumphantly. “I mean, you I get, but I always thought he was too much of a boy scout to really be doing a student. This is so perfect.”

Cheryl looked down, tapping at her phone with one manicured nail.

“What are you doing?” Kira asked, her voice sounding distant in her own ears, and Cheryl looked up in manufactured surprise.

“Just sending this to everyone I have ever met,” she said airily. Kira stepped close enough to see the image on Cheryl’s screen, a photo of the music room taken through the glass door panel, of Dr O holding her, his arms wrapped protectively around her. The lighting was bad, but it was clear enough, and it sure didn’t look like a platonic teacher comforting his student.

“There is no way in hell that the school isn’t going to fire Dr O once they see this, and you going down too? That’s just icing on the cake.”

Kira’s brain finally caught up with what was going on. With a sharp, calm clarity, Kira’s hand shot out and she punched Cheryl in the nose. The phone fell between them, cracking on the hallway floor, and Cheryl gave a small scream. She launched herself at Kira.


	12. Chapter 12

Kira was dishevelled, and Tommy could see a couple of scratches on her arm, but Cheryl was sporting a bloody nose and a mark across her cheekbone that was already darkening into a spectacular bruise.

“Alright, ladies,” the principal said with ominous calm. “Would either of you care to explain what just happened?”

It was only because Tommy was watching Kira closely, and not Cheryl, that he caught the murderous look that Kira levelled at the cheerleader. Cheryl saw it too, and her mouth snapped shut.

“No?” Tommy was well aware that Principal Randall had no real interest in getting to the bottom of what had happened, as long as it didn’t interfere with her disciplined school, and he wasn’t surprised when she turned a quelling look on both of the girls. “You can both go park yourselves in the main office while I figure out what to do with you, and call your parents to come and get rid of you for me.”

When the girls didn’t leave fast enough, Randall snarled, “Move, you loathsome little maggots!”

They moved. Tommy followed them down the hall to the secretarial office, and caught Kira’s elbow surreptitiously.

“I’ll talk to Randall,” he said softly, and the look Kira flashed him was one of defiance and misery. She gave him a brief nod, and Tommy let her go, turning back to look for the principal. There was no sign of her in the office where he’d left her, but he could hear her voice in one of the classrooms nearby. He pushed open the door.

“How much longer do I have to babysit these juvenile idiots, master?” Randall was complaining, but the figure standing there was Elsa, in all her black latex and wild-eyed glory. She was standing in front of a crackling green portal, talking to someone on the other side and she whipped around at the sound of the door, her eyes narrowing at him as the portal collapsed behind her.

“Elsa,” he snarled. “I knew there was something I didn’t like about you.”

There was a flash of something disenchanted in her face that vanished in a sneer. “I can’t believe it took you this long to figure it out. Too bad, Tommy. We could have had something good together.”

Was she serious? He’d never been interested in Randall, even before he found out that she was Mesogog’s minion.

“Not in a million years,” he said flatly.

 

Kira looked up at the aggressive sound of Miss Randall’s footsteps as the principal strode past the secretary’s office. Then Dr O ran past, his face grim, and Kira pushed herself to her feet, following after him. They were heading outside.

Kira reached the top step of the school entrance as Dr O shouted something and Principal Randall spun around. There was something in the arrogant tilt of the woman’s head that reminded Kira of someone, but Kira didn’t have time to chase that thought down, and she gasped in shock as the principal suddenly snapped a kick at Dr O and he countered with breathtaking speed.

Kira felt frozen to the step as Dr O and Randall fought across the wide lawn of the school quadrangle. She was too paralysed by shock to even wonder how their principal could move like that. Dr O was holding his own, but Kira could tell that he was being pushed hard.

The principal snapped a head high kick at Dr O, forcing him back until he stumbled into a bench at the edge of the lawn. As Randall closed in on him, Dr O deflected and kicked out at her, and Kira watched in disbelief as Randall caught his foot and flung it up with enough force to completely flip Dr O and the bench together in a tight, airborne roll. Randall’s boot heel came down and splintered the bench, but Dr O was already somersaulting under the attack. He came up behind her, and dropped into a spinning sweep that would have taken her out if she hadn’t already been backflipping out of reach.

The edges of the quadrangle were filling up fast with students watching the battle, and of course Cassidy was there, with Devin and his video camera. Kira could feel Conner and Ethan close in behind her, but her whole attention was on the furious battle. Dr O and Randall were moving almost too fast to follow. They were spiralling around each other, strikes and counter-strikes a blur of killing speed as Randall leaped into a spinning kick and Dr O cartwheeled away.

And then the most staggering move of all as Principal Randall vaulted into an aerial somersault, and morphed into Elsa as she hit the ground in a crouch. The feral-eyed warrior turned and snarled at the students, and there were screams. Kira was aware of kids scattering and running for cover, but she was focused on Dr O and the psychotic woman who had turned on him again.

Elsa spun a kick to Dr O’s gut, and Kira sucked in a pained breath, but he barely flinched, twisting Elsa aside. Kira didn’t even realise she was reaching for her morpher until Conner’s hand closed firmly over hers.

“Don’t,” he said quietly. “Dr O’s got this. You’ll blow our cover.”

“Do you think I care?” she whispered sharply back. “That’s Elsa!”

“Dr O would care.”

Kira’s hand fell away from her morpher.

“I can’t believe we didn’t work it out,” Conner was grumbling. “They look exactly the same, except one has glasses.”

“Hey, Clark Kent and Superman look the same, but nobody ever puts that together,” Ethan retorted.

“Good point.”

Kira ignored them both.

“You fight well for a science teacher,” Elsa was saying, and Kira didn’t like the intimate note in the woman’s sharp smile.

Dr O’s eyes were wary, waiting for her next move. “You’re not bad for a principal.”

“Former principal,” Elsa corrected him savagely. “Tell the school board I resign.”

A bright green portal flashed into the air and disappeared, taking Elsa with it. Kira let out the breath she’d been holding and took a shaky step down the first stair with Conner and Ethan right behind her, but before they could reach Dr O, Kira froze again at the sight of a familiar car pulling into the parking lot beside the quadrangle.

Her mother.


	13. Chapter 13

The world around Kira felt a little weird, and she found herself walking with an odd stiffness towards the carpark, trying to get her limbs to move properly as her mother got out of the car and stood there waiting.

Kira couldn’t even look at Dr O and the boys. She felt like she would burst into tears if she did, and she couldn’t handle that right now. After the adrenaline rush of the fight with Cheryl, the tension of getting hauled up in front of the principal, and the mind-numbing shock of Elsa’s revelation and Dr O’s battle, Kira had reached her limit, but she knew there was more to come.

The drive home was a silent one. Kira’s mother was fixed on the road ahead, and Kira’s own thoughts were flipping between the situation with Cheryl and the bizarre revelation that Principal Randall with Elsa. She turned her head to stare blankly out the window, the mindless movement of the scenery almost soothing, and abandoned any attempt to make sense of it all.

When they pulled into the driveway, Kira’s mother got out and headed for the house without looking at her daughter. Kira followed her inside, waiting for her to say something, anything, but it was as if her mother was putting it off. Kira dropped her bag near the door, watching her mom carefully position her handbag on the sideboard, and hang the car keys precisely on their hook.

Finally, her mom drew a breath and turned around.

“This isn’t like you, Kira. The past few months haven’t been like you at all. And now this?” Her mother threw up her hands in exasperation. “Punching someone? Kira, what’s going on?”

“She was spreading nasty rumours about one of my friends,” Kira tried.

“And punching her was how you chose to respond? You broke her phone, Kira!”

“So I’m just supposed to let her get away with it?”

“Well, what did she say?”

Kira was silent, trying to come up with something that wasn’t incriminating. _She’s saying I’m sleeping with my science teacher._ Why do you care, Kira? _Because he’s my team-mate and I’d do anything to protect him…_ No, can’t go there. _Because I wish it was true…_ God, no! Kira felt like all her snark had deserted her, and she couldn’t think, couldn’t even come up with a plausible story.

Her mother was waiting with controlled impatience for her to speak, but when nothing was forthcoming her mouth tightened.

“You won’t tell me what the fight was about. You won’t even tell me what’s been going on at school, and for months now you’ve been sneaking around on us. I don’t even know what’s going on with you anymore, and I can’t trust you, Kira. And on top of all of this, your father’s coming home from hospital tomorrow and he has to deal with all of this.”

Kira hung her head.

“I think it goes without saying that you’re going to have to buy Cheryl Armstrong a new phone and apologise, and that you’re grounded for the rest of eternity. You’ll be lucky if you’re not expelled from school for this. And I’m afraid, Kira, that you won’t be able to perform at the prom.”

Kira felt too drained to even find the words to respond.

“I hate to do this, but nothing seems to be getting through to you.” Her mother sounded like a judge passing the death sentence. “I’m going to have to confiscate your guitar for as long as you’re grounded.”

At that, Kira did look up, a faint gasp of pain escaping. Her mother’s expression was a blend of anger and hurt, but still Kira couldn’t find anything to say. Any explanation would only come back too close to the Rangers. _I’m sorry I’ve been breaking curfew, Mom, but I have to put on a yellow spandex suit and protect the city from monsters…_

“I think it’s best if you head up to bed now, Kira. We’ll talk about this tomorrow when your father gets home. Maybe you’ll have something to say for yourself then,” her mom added bitterly.

Kira dragged herself up to her bedroom and threw herself onto her bed. For what felt like an eternity she stared up at her ceiling with dry eyes, feeling the walls close in on her. It was some time before the persistent blinking of her morpher finally got her attention.

She closed her eyes, willing it to stop. “Oh, hell. Not now!”

She ignored it. It felt like the blinking grew more insistent. Kira bit her lip, and looked at the window. Downstairs, she could hear the clink of a wine glass, and that was never a good sign. Her mom only tended to break out the red when she was at breaking point.

The morpher was still flashing insistently at her, and Kira sighed. Without letting herself think any further about it, she swung her leg over the windowsill. She would have to deal with the parental consequences later.

When Kira got to the coordinates, the only other Ranger there was Trent.

“What the hell happened?” Trent was saying before she’d even reached him. “Everyone’s talking about it – hell, it’s on the freaking news, Randall turning into Elsa and fighting Dr O.”

Kira stopped dead.

“Did you know about Randall being Elsa?” she asked sharply. “Is that what you weren’t telling us?”

“No!” Trent said emphatically. “She never transformed around me, and I had no idea she was Randall. It’s not like anyone else figured it out.” He sounded rather aggrieved, but Kira was too tired and worn out to be anything other than annoyed with him.

“Did you drag me out here just to get the gossip on Elsa? It couldn’t wait until the morning? Because I have to get home.”

“You weren’t answering your phone.”

“So you just thought you’d send up the Ranger signal?” Kira interrupted incredulously. “My phone’s been confiscated, and Mom’s got me in lockdown, which I violated, by the way, because I thought that Mesogog was attacking. She’s going to kill me if she finds out that I climbed out the window.”

“Wait, you’re grounded? Because of Elsa?”

“Jeez, obsessed much? Frankly, the school principal flipping out and turning into Elsa is probably the only reason I’m not suspended from school yet.”

“What? Kira, what happened? Are you okay?”

“I punched Cheryl Armstrong, okay?” she snapped, and Trent was staring at her.

“The cheerleader?”

“Yes.”

“You.”

“Jeez, yes! Right in the nose. Blood everywhere. I’ve got a few scars too, if you really want to look.”

“That…” Trent seemed lost for words. He tried again. “Was it one of Mesogog’s monsters, messing with your mind? Because it sounds like a lot of weird stuff happened at Reefside today, but no one called in an attack.”

“There weren’t any attacks,” Kira sighed. “Other than Elsa, and she disappeared before we needed to get involved.”

“Then what the hell happened?”

“I just… really wanted to hit Cheryl.” Kira stalked away a few abrupt steps, and paced back. She finally said bluntly, “She said some stuff. I lost it.”

Trent was staring at her. “You lost it.”

Kira stared back at him.

“You.”

She shrugged, not wanting to talk about it anymore, but Trent wasn’t going to let it go, she knew. She said reluctantly, “Cheryl thinks there’s something going on with me and Dr O. She had photos that didn’t look good, and she was going to use them. Everyone at school has always thought I must be sleeping around, because why else would you guys hang around with someone like me? But Dr O could lose his job over this.”

“Now it makes sense. I should have figured this would be about Dr O,” Trent said ruefully.

“What?”

“Dr Oliver. You don’t care much what Cheryl’s saying about you. She’s ripping you to shreds, and you don’t bat an eyelash. But the moment she threatened Dr O, of course you broke her nose.”

Kira’s mouth opened to say something, but she stayed silent, unable to deny it.

“I suppose there’s no point asking you to go to prom with me, is there?”

Kira just shook her head.

For a long moment after Trent left, Kira stood there, trying to muster the will to walk home again. It had been a truly spectacular fail of a day, so of course it started raining.

A cold wind blew through as the first drops of rain hit, and Kira wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. By the time she reached her house, the rain was coming down hard and Kira was soaked. In the darkness, Kira tried the front door, then pulled out her key, her fingers shaking with cold. Nothing gave, and Kira closed her eyes, leaning her forehead exhaustedly on the door for a moment. Her mother must have turned the deadlock.

With heavy feet, she went around the side of the house and peered up through the tree that she had climbed down, but it was obvious that her bedroom window was closed, and Kira didn’t feel like climbing all the way up there to find that that was locked as well. Her mom’s bedroom light was on, and she briefly contemplated knocking and begging for forgiveness, but that was a battle she couldn’t deal with just then.

Ethan’s family would expect explanations that she couldn’t give at this time of night. Conner wasn’t an option. Trent… well, she just wasn’t going there. And she was moving inevitably towards the one place she really wanted to be, and the one person she’d been desperate to avoid.


	14. Chapter 14

Tommy opened the door to a soaked and bedraggled Kira, who met his eyes with a tired defiance.

“My Mom locked me out,” she said flatly. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

Tommy stepped back silently, holding the door for her. He followed her into the kitchen, where she rounded on him.

“Look, if you’re going to chew me out about that fight with Cheryl, don’t. Not tonight. Mom’s angry and disappointed in me, Dad’s still in hospital, the whole school is bitching about me, and then Trent called me on the morpher and by the time I got back home, Mom had locked the doors on me.”

Kira was shivering. Tommy couldn’t tell if it was exhaustion, tension or cold, but he grabbed his coat off the back of a chair and wrapped it around her, refusing to admit even to himself that the sudden, overwhelming urge to throttle Trent was about anything other than unauthorised use of the morpher. To distract himself, he focused on finding two clean mugs and filling them with water.

“So if you’re going to yell at me, can you save it until tomorrow?”

“I wasn’t going to yell,” Tommy said mildly. “Do you want tea or hot chocolate?”

“What, not even the ‘I’m so disappointed in you’ speech?”

“Why would I be disappointed in you?”

Kira muttered, “Everyone else is.”

“I think I know you well enough to know that there were reasons. And Cheryl is a thorough bi…” he cut himself off, reminding himself belatedly that he was still talking to a student, even if she was also a whole lot more than that. “I’m pretty sure Cheryl gave you plenty of reasons.”

“Oh, yeah. But I’m a Ranger, I’m not supposed to start fights even with someone like her. I’m supposed to be better than that. And you said I should just let it go and focus on Mesogog.”

Tommy pushed a hot mug into her hands, and Kira huddled over it.

“I’m just… so tired.” She looked around the kitchen with a dazed expression, almost as if she were realising where she was for the first time. “And after all that, here I am anyway.”

Tommy said curiously, “Here you are, what?”

Kira avoided his gaze, staring into the mug, and Tommy waited until she’d drunk enough hot chocolate to lose that blue tinge around her mouth.

“So, are you going to tell me why you’ve been avoiding me?” he pushed gently. “And why you punched Cheryl, not that I don’t sympathise.”

Kira sighed wearily.

“Cheryl is trying to get you fired. She thinks… she’s been saying…” Kira sounded like the words were sticking in her throat. “That we’re having an affair.”

“What?”

“You. And me.”

Tommy stood slowly. He could feel the muscles clench in his jaw, but all he said was, “I see.”

He moved over to the counter, idly rearranging the salt and pepper shakers without saying anything else for a moment.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked eventually, trying to keep his voice calm

“So you could do what exactly?” she shot back at him. “I figured the best thing I could do was stay away from you and not give Cheryl any more ammunition. She and her minions were watching you and me the whole time. They could have found out about the Rangers. Worst case, she could have got you fired.”

“Worst case?” Tommy gave a small laugh. “Kira, that doesn’t even make my top ten list of worst things that could happen.”

He turned and leaned back against the counter. “She tried to persuade me to bring her grades up. I think you already know what she offered, but that’s why she was moved to Lois Master’s class. I reported her to Randall. Cheryl tried to claim that I’d come on to her, but that backfired on her, so I guess she’s been looking for some other way to get back at me. If you’d told me, I could have-”

“What? Slept with her to get her off my case?” Kira’s mouth twisted like she was trying not to throw up at the thought.

“God, no! Why would you even suggest that? I don’t know what I’d have done, but you shouldn’t have had to deal with her on your own.” Tommy became aware of his hands curled into fists, and carefully, deliberately relaxed them. “We’ll figure something out,” he told her. “We’re both too tired now to think straight, and it’s been a rough day, but you’re not on your own in this.”

“But I should have been able to handle it.”

“The thing about having a team is you don’t have to. You’ve got Conner and Ethan and Trent,” he couldn’t help the way his voice soured a little on Trent’s name, “and you’ve got me. Let us help you.”

Kira looked up at him, as if she wasn’t quite able to believe him.

“I’m not so sure about Trent,” she sighed.

“Why not?”

She frowned slightly. “He’s been acting really weird, and tonight, he said he didn’t know about Elsa being Randall, but there’s something else he’s still keeping from us. Something big.”

Tommy watched her for one long moment, then shook himself.

“Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it in the morning. Right now, you need sleep. You can take my bed and I’ll sleep on the couch tonight.”

Kira shoved herself to her feet, saying a little too quickly, “I’ll take the couch.”

Although it offended his every chivalrous instinct, Tommy nodded reluctantly and went to get the blankets and pillows from the linen closet. When he came back, Kira was already curled up on the couch in the lounge room, looking more subdued than he’d ever seen her, and she barely responded to his tentative goodnight. He headed upstairs to a restless night, too aware of the girl downstairs on his couch to sleep properly.

Somewhere after midnight, Tommy was broken out of an uneasy doze by the faint noise of canned laughter from downstairs. Giving up on sleep, Tommy came down and found Kira sitting in the dark, watching some old sitcom with her arms wrapped around her knees and her sweater pulled down over her fingertips.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked gently, but Kira kept staring at the flickering screen.

“I never thought Mom’d actually kick me out, you know?” Kira said distantly. The corners of her mouth tightened. “No matter how many times I save the world, no matter what I do, I’m still the delinquent daughter because I can’t tell anyone what I’m really up to.”

Tommy sat down carefully on the other end of the couch, very conscious of the space he was keeping between them.

“Being a superhero really sucks sometimes.”

Tommy sighed. “That’s for sure.”

 

When Kira woke, the sky was just starting to turn to light around the edges of the curtains. Although she and Dr O had fallen asleep at opposite ends of the couch, at some time in the night she had ended up with her face buried in the soft cotton of his t-shirt and his arm wrapped around her. She could hear the steady, reassuring thunder of his heart as she tried to fight off dawning consciousness.

Somewhere upstairs an alarm clock went off, and Kira groaned. Dr O’s arm tightened briefly around her, then shifted away, and she pushed herself reluctantly upright, sweeping her hair out of her face.

As she pulled herself together, Dr O swung his feet to the ground and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He slowly stood, and Kira looked up to find him watching her with a curiously unreadable expression.

The alarm clock started up again insistently, and Dr O held out his hand to help pull her to her feet.

“Time to face the day,” he said gently.


	15. Chapter 15

Neither of them spoke much. Tommy left Kira in the kitchen while he went upstairs to get dressed and try to pull himself together, and when he came back down, she was cradling a mug of coffee. There was a plate of toast in front of her, but it didn’t look like she’d eaten much.

“What do you think they’re going to do? About Randall, I mean?” she said eventually, and Tommy shrugged, pouring himself a coffee. He leaned on the counter next to her.

“I doubt that there’s a precedent for what happens when the school principal morphs into an evil warrior and disappears into a portal,” he said drily. “I’m guessing the school board will meet today to work it out, but at least it means that you’re okay for now. They’re not going to make a ruling on what to do with you and Cheryl until they have a new principal in place.”

Kira sighed. “I’d almost rather know the worst now. Although, between getting kicked out of home and Mesogog planning to turn everyone into mutant dinosaurs, how much worse can it get?”

“Hopefully we’ve reached our limit. Are you just about ready to go?”

Kira was shifting uncomfortably, and it was rather obvious to Tommy what was on her mind.

“You need to get to school too, Kira,” he prompted gently, “unless you’re ready to go home and deal with your mom. You haven’t been suspended and at least we’d all be there together if Mesogog tries anything new.”

He added softly, “Don’t let Cheryl win.”

She followed him reluctantly out to the jeep, and the whole way to the school Tommy kept shooting her surreptitious glances. He hated seeing her so subdued. She wasn’t even humming under her breath like she usually did, and the drive down from his house into the streets of Reefside was disturbingly quiet. He pulled into the school carpark.

As Kira reached for the door handle he caught at her wrist, and Kira turned to look at him in surprise.

“Tell them,” Tommy said abruptly.

“What?”

“Tell your parents what you’re really doing. That you’re a Power Ranger.”

“Seriously? Whatever happened to the ‘No one must find out you’re a Ranger, or Dire Things Shall Befall’ speech?”

“Screw that,” Tommy said flatly, remembering the helpless feeling of Kira sobbing in his arms, and Kira looking lost and broken on his doorstep.

“Are you-“

“Kira!” Conner’s voice interrupted them, bellowing from across the quadrangle, and Tommy let her wrist go. He could see Ethan raise an eyebrow at the sight of Kira climbing out of the jeep, but Conner grinned, throwing his hands wide. Tommy noticed that there was no sign of Trent.

“Kira!” Conner shouted again. “Why didn’t you tell me about you and Cheryl yesterday?”

“Keep your voice down, you idiot,” she called back, and Conner looked around him in surprise.

“Why? There’s no one here yet.”

“Which prompts the question, what are you two doing here so early?” Kira asked.

“Hayley thought you might need some backup. She called us this morning,” Ethan chimed in.

Kira shot a look at Tommy, and he flashed a wry smile at her.

“It’s Hayley,” he told her. “She knows stuff.”

Conner interrupted, “So, did you really break Cheryl’s nose? Was it that hook shot I showed you?”

“I didn’t break her nose,” Kira sighed. “I punched her, and broke her phone. And before you ask, it was just a basic cross punch. I didn’t have time for anything fancy.”

“Damn, I wish I’d seen that.” Conner slung an arm across Kira’s shoulder, and Ethan closed in on the other side. “Oh, and one of the guys on the soccer team asked me to ask you if you were interested in going to prom with him. Apparently he thinks scary girls are hot.”

Tommy watched Kira shove Conner with her elbow, but already there was a spark back in her hazel eyes, and he gave a faint sigh of relief. Conner nudged her, giving her a broad grin. The corner of Kira’s mouth lifted briefly in response, and she squared her shoulders as Conner and Ethan shoved the doors open for her. Tommy followed the three teenagers inside.

It was still quiet in the school corridors, but there were two people there already, and Tommy felt himself tense as Anton Mercer stalked towards them with an oddly subdued Trent in his wake.

“Anton,” Tommy acknowledged cautiously. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m on the school board. We’ve been called in this morning to discuss the… unusual events yesterday, and to come to some decisions.”

“They might want to look a little closer at the next principal they hire,” Kira muttered. Anton turned a cold, appraising look on her.

“There are more than a few issues that cropped up yesterday that need to be reviewed, Miss Ford, including your future at this school.”

Anton’s mobile phone rang, and Tommy swallowed the sudden surge of anger he felt as the man dismissed Kira with a gesture and turned to pull his phone out of his coat pocket. A scrap of something came with it and spilled to the floor.

The black, fingerless glove lay there incongruously, and Tommy stared at it blankly for a moment before it registered where he’d seen it before. _Elsa_.

Slowly, he looked up at Trent, but the boy seemed as stunned as Tommy felt. None of them had time to process the implications, as Anton glanced down and noticed the glove for the first time. His face went slack and the phone was forgotten in his hand, and then Tommy saw Anton’s face suddenly turn grey. Instinctively, he reached out to his former friend as Mercer dropped to one knee, convulsing. The flesh on Anton’s face was twitching and rippling in a disturbing way.

“Anton!” Tommy said in dismay. He shot a glance over his shoulder and called, “Get help!”

Even as Trent shouted “No!” Mercer staggered to his feet and backed away, his face contorting. Abruptly, he turned and almost ran from them down the hall. Tommy went after him in concern, with Kira, Conner and Ethan on his heels. He was vaguely aware of Trent calling after him to leave his father alone, but Anton was moving faster now, and Tommy ran after him, skidding around a corner into the classroom where Anton had gone, just as Anton doubled over, leaning heavily on a desk. The man looked like he was having a seizure, and Tommy stepped towards him.

In a flash of light, Anton bent and warped, his features rippling and morphing until Anton was gone and Mesogog straightened, snarling at them with all teeth bared.

Tommy heard Conner behind him breath, “No way! Mercer is-“

“Mesogog,” Tommy said grimly.

“Oh, this is one crazy week,” Ethan muttered, and Tommy could see Kira turn on Trent.

“This is your big secret?” she spat. “You knew this all along?”

“He’s my father!” Trent pleaded. The boy was looking ashen under his tan. “How could I tell you?”

Mesogog snapped around at the sound of Trent’s voice to glare at the boy. “You will pay for betraying me, Trent. You will pay dearly,” the creature hissed, and Trent’s eyes went wide.

“I never betrayed you! It was Elsa!”

“He betrayed us, if anything,” Conner threw in, and Tommy had never heard the Red Ranger sound so angry, but Mesogog snarled at them all and dissolved into Anton Mercer again.

Anton collapsed to the floor, gasping out Trent’s name, but before his son could do more than take a quick step towards him, the lambent green light of a portal spun out of the air and swallowed Mercer whole.

As Trent spun around to stare at them all in dismay and guilt, Tommy could feel the fury he was trying to rein in reflected in the expressions of his three younger team-mates.


	16. Chapter 16

The tension was still high by the time they reconvened in the dino lab later that day. Conner was pacing the floor, unable to contain himself. The boy was easy to read; every emotion was written large on his face, and right now he was gripped with a fury all the greater because of the friendship and trust he’d given Trent.

Ethan was slumped in a desk chair, and the only sign of his feelings were the tensing muscles in his arm as he clenched and unclenched his hand.

But it was the expression in Kira’s hazel eyes that hurt Tommy the most.

“I always knew Mercer wasn’t exactly PTA material,” said Ethan eventually, “but Mesogog? That’s whack.”

“I’ll tell you what’s whack,” Conner snarled back. “Trent not telling us. That’s whack.”

And Kira sighed. “Look, I’m as mad about this as you guys are, but don’t you think we owe Trent a chance to explain? Maybe there’s a really good reason he didn’t tell us.”

Tommy felt his hands involuntarily clench. After everything, Kira still cared enough to find excuses for Trent, to give him chance after chance, and Tommy deliberately forced his fists open and let go of the feeling of wanting to pound the younger White Ranger.

“Well, I hope there is, because if not, then I’ll have no choice but to ask Trent to surrender his morpher and give up being a Power Ranger,” he said grimly.

Conner rounded on Kira. “Don’t tell me you feel bad for Trent.”

“Yeah,” Ethan struck in. “I mean, do you want someone you can’t trust running around with those powers?”

“I’d just hate for it to end this way for Trent. I mean, if it were me and I had to give back my powers, I don’t know if I could handle it,” Kira pleaded, and Tommy closed his eyes briefly in sudden pain as the boys both shifted gear and started teasing her about her change of face. He’d been through the Big Battle before, and he really, really hoped that this time it wouldn’t take Kira and the boys sacrificing everything to defeat Mesogog once and for all.

The three teenagers were bickering together about their history as Rangers, the mood considerably lighter, until Conner said, “Are you guys forgetting who almost ended it all?” and Kira turned on him.

“He was under the gem’s spell,” she protested. “It’s different now.”

“Yeah, now he forgets to tell us that Mesogog is his dad. Glad he’s changed,” Conner snarked back just as Trent came down the dino lab stairs.

"I made a promise,” Trent said forcefully, and Conner rounded on him.

“What about your promise to us?”

“I never let my feelings get in the way of my Ranger duties.”

Conner snorted, and turned away, his arms folded.

“That may be true, Trent” Tommy said impassively, “but you put us in a difficult position. Conner may be right. I just don’t know how we can ever trust you again. Anton Mercer was my friend. I understand your loyalty, but the question is, do they?”

He turned to Kira, who was looking conflicted, and Ethan standing beside her. Conner was frowning darkly at the floor, his arms still crossed. Then he looked up, his serious eyes meeting Trent squarely.

Conner said slowly, “Just one question. Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, there’s a very real chance that you’ll have to face Mesogog one day.”

“If Mesogog wins,” Trent said steadily, “then my father’s lost forever. Mesogog has to be defeated, no matter what.”

The sound of angry footsteps coming down the stairs broke through the mood, and they all instinctively fell into defensive, wary stances until Hayley came into view. Without a word, she stalked past them and flipped on one of the screens, standing back with her arms folded.

The news was playing, and Tommy could make out the headline ‘Classroom Smackdown!’ over the slightly grainy image of the Reefside High quadrangle, and the fast, blurred fight going on there. Hayley must have taped it, because it looped back and replayed.

Tommy bit back a curse.

“Nice moves,” Kira said deadpan, and Tommy glared at her. The glare softened as the corners of her mouth twitched in the first proper smile he’d seen from her in days.

Hayley was not so amused.

“Care to explain how this made the news, Oliver?” she asked drily with a lift of her eyebrow, and the three boys started backing away. They hit the stairs almost at a run.

As they made an undignified scramble to get out of the way, Tommy heard Ethan’s voice drifting back down, “I still can’t believe that no one figured out that Randall was Elsa.”

“You didn’t see it either, genius,” Conner snarked. “And we also missed that Trent’s father is a huge mutant dinosaur. It hasn’t been a good week.”

Kira was still standing there, looking at Tommy with her head tilted.

“Do you need backup?” she asked, and he shot a look back at Hayley, and shook his head with a brief smile. Kira rolled her eyes. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me.”

When the lab was cleared of teenagers, Tommy turned back to face Hayley’s wrath.

“What happened to secrecy?” she asked a little less forcefully, and Tommy grimaced.

“I didn’t transform, and with all the weird that’s been going around lately, this is going to be forgotten in a week’s time. Anton Mercer turning into Mesogog is a bigger problem.”

“Unfortunately, I think you’re right,” Hayley said. “And we’re going to need to move up our timeline to counter him.”

She turned back to the computer, frowning as she called up a series of files while the news loop still played out in the background.

“How’s the project coming along? Do you think it’ll work?” Tommy asked. He leaned over her shoulder, staring at the schematics revolving on the screen in front of her. He couldn’t even begin to comprehend how she had built this vehicle, but there was no doubt that stashed somewhere in the hills around his house was a mobile command centre, fully equipped, that would make the average billionaire genius green with envy.

“This is incredible,” he breathed in awe.

She gave him a smug grin.

“Child, I have skills you can’t even begin to imagine.”

“And one day, you’re going to have to tell me where you learned all these amazing skills.”

The look she levelled at him over her shoulder was unreadable.

“Maybe.” She turned back to the computer, frowning at it. “The tough part will be getting through an invisiportal with this much mass. We’ll need a portal that operates at an exact frequency and latitude for it to work.”

“Any ideas where we’re going to find that portal?” he asked drily, and Hayley rolled her eyes.

“That’s your department. We don’t just keep you around for your pretty face, you know. It’s your job to get my Triceramax command centre onto that island.”

Tommy nodded. “And once we get there, we’ll be able to destroy Mesogog’s lair once and for all.”

At that moment, one of the screens flashed a warning, and they both turned towards the sound of a faint scream.

“Tommy, you’d better take a look at this.” Hayley zoomed in on the image of a familiar armoured cyborg hauling a woman across a concrete rooftop. The woman with the long, dark hair was trying to pull free, looking terrified. Tommy frowned.

“Zeltrax,” he said slowly. “But what does he want with that civilian? She looks familiar.”

Hayley pursed her mouth, and pulled up the coordinates for him.

“Whatever Zeltrax wants,” Hayley said, “it can’t be good. Time to go rescue the damsel in distress, Tommy.”


	17. Chapter 17

The team faced Zeltrax with Ethan still grumbling about not even making it home before he’d been called back. The industrial junk yard where they’d tracked the cyborg had too many places for potential traps or kill-zones, and Kira knew she wasn’t the only Ranger scanning for any hint of movement around the rusty shipping containers and broken concrete that hemmed them in.

Zeltrax waited, motionless, until they drew closer. His blank face plate was focused on the Black Ranger.

“I knew you couldn’t resist the bait,” his voice rasped. “Tommy Oliver always has to save the lady.”

Kira’s eyes narrowed behind her visor, watching for the moment when Zeltrax would attack, then he roared, and they all threw themselves into battle.

As Kira skidded back, flung away by Zeltrax, she heard a scream in the distance and her head whipped around. Dr O’s black helmet turned towards the sound.

“Help! Somebody help me!” shrieked a desperate female voice.

Dr O turned back quickly. “You guys deal with Zeltrax. I’ll help her,” he commanded, and broke into a run as Kira and the boys charged back into the fray.

Conner and Ethan were hanging on Zeltrax’s metallic arms, slowing him down, and Kira closed in. If she’d been thinking properly, she never would have charged at Zeltrax head on, and she certainly would have been quick enough to dodge the laser blast that caught her fair in the chest.

Kira flew backwards and smacked into the ground hard enough to blur her vision. For one long moment she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t tell if her ribs were broken in the haze of agony. Then Conner shouted at her, and she shoved herself painfully to her feet.

Without a word, Kira thrust her hand and her power towards Conner, and braced for the Shield of Triumph, feeling the pull on her energy as Conner morphed into Battle Blast mode. As the Red Ranger rose over them and shot at Zeltrax, the cyborg retreated, and Kira staggered slightly in exhaustion, just as the Black Ranger emerged from between the storage sheds supporting a beautiful, dazed woman.

The White Ranger took a step forwards.

“It’s Elsa,” Trent said in surprise, and the woman lifted her head, her forehead faintly creasing in a frown.

“Elsa,” she said slowly. “Yes. That’s what that creature called me.”

Dr O had a protective arm around her as she stumbled.

“We’d better get her back to the lab, figure out what’s going on,” he said, and they called up the raptorcycles, Dr O helping Elsa gently on behind him.

They shot through the city, and into the woods on the raptorcycles, and Elsa was holding on to Dr O, her eyes squeezed shut. It was hard, Kira thought, to see their ferociously cunning enemy in this scared and fragile woman. The stone door slammed shut behind them as they brought the cycles to a skidding halt inside the dino cave.

Kira followed Dr O and Elsa, who was looking around in wide-eyed wonder, and propped herself against the desk as Dr O offered the dark-haired woman a chair. Conner was frowning at the floor, his arms crossed, and Trent paced restlessly until Dr O finally turned to him.

“Trent,” Dr O started. “Do you know what happened?”

“Mesogog has finished building the laser that will transform humans into mutant dinosaurs. He drained Elsa of her energy to start powering it up.”

Ethan leaned forward in his seat. “That’s not possible.”

“Oh, it’s possible,” Dr O said grimly. “It’s a warped version of something that we were very close to when the island blew up for the first time.”

"But Mesogog can’t have got enough energy to run that kind of equipment yet,” Hayley interjected.

Trent turned to her. “He’s going to use the dino gems to get the rest of the power he needs.”

The lab fell quiet for a moment, then Conner said in a voice heavy with suspicion, “What do mean, he’s going to use the dino gems?”

“Yeah,” Ethan added, watching Trent closely, “how is he going to get them?”

“I’m going to give them to him,” Trent told them.

Kira was unsurprised by the explosion of anger and suspicion from her two team-mates. She turned her head to gauge Dr O’s reaction, and he met her eyes for a brief moment, his face expressionless.

“I am not going to give _anyone_ my gem!” Conner was saying fiercely, and Trent lifted a hand appeasingly.

“Just hear me out. You want to get onto that island. Mesogog wants the gems. If I hand them to him, I could open the portal for you, and once you get inside, you can destroy the beam and Mesogog in the process.” He straightened his shoulders, bracing himself. “And I can rescue my father.”

Kira watched Dr O as his dark eyes hardened.

“No way,” her teacher said quietly and firmly. “It’s too risky.”

“Look, I know you have plenty of reasons not to trust me-“

“It’s not a question of trusting you,” Dr O cut Trent off.

“Although it kind of is,” Conner muttered.

“There are too many other variables that could go wrong, and if we lose the gems we have no other defence.”

_And_ , Kira thought, _are we sure of where Trent’s priorities are – with us, or his father – if it comes down to a choice?_

“Do we really have another choice?” Hayley was saying to Dr O. “We have to get onto that island, otherwise Mesogog can turn everyone into dino mutants without the Power Rangers even getting close to him.”

Much as Kira hated to admit it, trusting Trent was a huge risk. But set against that was the image in her head of her father, damaged and ghost-pale in the hospital bed. Time was running out, and there were going to be more innocent victims hurt or killed if they didn’t end Mesogog, and soon.

“She’s right.” Kira pushed herself off the desk, and looked at Dr O. “I mean, he’s going to get that thing going eventually, with or without the dino gems, and this could be our only shot.”

Dr O was staring at her thoughtfully. Eventually he gave a decisive nod.

There wasn’t much more said after that, although Conner was clearly not happy as he put his dino gem into the case beside the others, hesitating for a long moment before he released it.

“This had better work,” he growled at Trent, and the artist closed the case carefully.

“I’ll call when the portal’s open,” Trent said.

They all turned at the faint sound from the corner where Elsa was huddled in her chair. As they hurried over, Elsa stared at them with wide eyes, her face pale. Dr O dropped to one knee beside her.

“Are you alright?” he asked gently, and Elsa turned her head to look at him.

“I remember everything.”

“Mesogog, Mercer, fighting against the Power Rangers?”

“Fighting against _you_ ,” Elsa agreed, and Kira felt her throat tighten at the intimate note in the older woman’s voice. “Mesogog had me completely in his power. I remember I kept trying to push Trent into giving something away, and when that didn’t work I planted my glove in Anton Mercer’s coat, hoping it would force a crisis.”

“Oh, it did,” Kira muttered.

“I think the other me was convinced that she was doing it to help Mesogog, but maybe, deep down, I wanted to get free. But he was so angry. So very angry, and oh, god, it hurt when he stripped the power out of me.” Elsa shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. “But I remember everything about his lair and his work, things that Trent never even got a glimpse of.”

Hayley turned her attention on the dark-haired woman, her eyes narrowed speculatively.

“You and I are going to have a little chat,” she said to Elsa.

While Hayley was taking notes and Elsa was scribbling something on the notepad Hayley had handed her, one of the computer monitors beeped insistently. Kira turned to see a complicated diagram that looked like a semi-trailer on steroids revolving in three dimensions, and Hayley tapped on the keyboard, zooming in on something.

“The new vehicle is ready to go,” Hayley announced, as Elsa handed the rough maps she’d drawn to Dr O. With the pages in one hand, he stood up, the other hand on Elsa’s arm.

“Will you be alright?” he asked her, and she looked up at him, nodding. Dr O glanced around at the rest of the team. “Let’s go.”

“Come back safe,” Elsa said softly, her eyes only on Kira’s teacher, and Kira looked away as Dr O grinned at the former principal.

“We always do.”


	18. Chapter 18

There was one advantage to impending battle – it tended to focus the mind, and as Hayley’s Triceramax command centre picked up speed, Kira braced herself, trying to put aside all the chaos and drama of the past few weeks. She closed her eyes as the huge truck drove straight at the rock face, and then there was a sickening lurch as it slammed through the portal that opened at the last instant.

Everything after that was a blur of battle, tyrannodrones fighting to stop them. Kira kept moving, instinct and training driving her, but something was off. She didn’t think that Ethan and Conner had noticed anything, but she had the feeling she saw Dr O shooting her a quick look a couple of times as if he was worried.

Kira took a couple of bone-jarring hits that she should have been able to dodge easily, even as she moved through the hordes of tyrannodrones. She tried to clear her head, but everything was still feeling a little foggy, and she silently thanked Dr O for the training that kept her moving even while her mind was distracted and sluggish.

Instinct also kicked in as the tyrannodrones rushed the Black Ranger, and Kira Screamed.

Dr O slapped his hands over his ears as Kira destroyed the minions, her voice fuelled by all the frustration and despair of the past week. He looked up, meeting her eyes with a hint of understanding as he tipped his head in acknowledgement, and she returned the gesture. Then they were both back into action.

The Triceramax rumbled into motion, power crackling to life around the huge laser on its roof. Kira saw Conner race after the command centre as two tyrannodrones managed to climb its side, but her own attention was dragged back to the battle raging around her as a tyrannodrone landed a painful blow on her shoulder. Everything was fight and chaos after that until the moment when she was running for the Triceramax, hard on Dr O’s heels, as Mesogog’s lair exploded and burned behind them. Conner and Ethan threw themselves into the cabin a breath behind her, and she sucked in a breath of relief until she realised that there was no sign of Trent.

“Hayley, get us out of here,” Dr O was saying, and Kira could hear the strain in his voice.

“We can’t go yet.” She leaned forward in her seat, and Dr O glanced back at her. “Trent’s still in there.”

“If we don’t go now, the portal’s going to close on us. And if anyone can find a way out of there, it’s Trent. He knows that place better than anyone,” Dr O sounded like he was trying to convince himself, but the edges of the portal were starting to disintegrate, and Hayley gunned the engine without any further discussion, her face grim.

Kira didn’t say anything further until they were all on the other side, tumbling out of the command centre to stare at the distant devastation raining over Mesogog’s island lair. Then the air rippled, and Trent staggered through, almost carrying Anton Mercer with him.

Silently, Trent held out their gems, safe and intact in the black case.

There was very little said in the Triceramax as Hayley steered the mobile unit carefully through the back road into the woods, and Kira found herself shivering a little with reaction. She was wedged in uncomfortably close to Trent, and he glanced at her in concern at the movement, but Kira avoided his eyes. His father was hunched over in the seat behind them, silent and drawn with his head in his hands, and even Conner was uncharacteristically quiet. There was none of the jubilation that they should have been feeling after defeating Mesogog and destroying his lair.

The first sign that something was wrong, as the Triceramax turned towards the dino lab’s secret entrance, was the hole in the rock face and the scorch marks that blackened the stone where the door had been blasted into rubble. Dr O flung himself out of the Triceramax almost before it had stopped, and the rest of the team followed in stunned silence.

The place had been completely trashed. Shattered and twisted pieces of metal were scattered everywhere, and there was still the odd snap of sparking electrical equipment. Kira’s gaze blankly followed a mark that had been gouged across the mosaic floor, as if someone had dragged an impossibly heavy blade across it.

Hayley was picking her way through the rubble, her face distraught as she stepped over cables wrenched loose and broken shelves. In all this destruction there was a distinct absence of Elsa.

Dr O didn’t say anything, but Kira could see his hand clenching and unclenching at his side. Hayley, her face grim, dug out a black box trailing wires and dusted it off with the hem of her dress. She prodded it a few times, and clicked something back into place, and then one of the cracked computer screens flickered into life. Hayley flipped rapidly through a series of files, calling up footage.

“It wasn’t Elsa who did this,” Hayley told them, still staring at the screen. “Zeltrax got in somehow. I’m guessing he tracked Elsa to the lab and waited until we left. He’s taken her, but judging from the security footage, she fought hard against him.”

Dr O swore under his breath, and Hayley turned a fierce look on him.

“This is _not_ your fault, Tommy.”

“Then whose fault is it?” he shot back, his voice strained. “I should never have left Elsa here unguarded. I should never have brought her here in the first place.”

“Where else were you going to take her?” Hayley snapped. “This should have been the safest place for her, and if anyone’s failed, it’s me for not managing to block unauthorised access to the cave.”

Kira sucked in a breath, trying to push back the exhaustion that was threatening, now that the adrenaline rush of battle had worn off and the bleakness of the current situation had taken over. She reached out and put a hand on Dr O’s arm, and he looked around at the touch, his strained expression easing slightly.

“It doesn’t matter how it happened,” she said. “We have to get Elsa back, and stop Zeltrax.”

Ethan and Conner were already heading for the door, untroubled by all the angst going around. Kira heard Conner saying to Ethan, “So, that security footage. Just out of curiosity, do you know of any way to erase it, say, three weeks back? Round about the soccer finals time, for example?”

Ethan was rolling his eyes. “I do not even want to know.”

They all scattered through the woods below the house, searching near the destroyed secret entrance to the cave for signs of Zeltrax and traces of how he’d got in, and where he’d gone next. Trent found a torn scrap that looked like it had come from Elsa’s shirt, a forlorn white tatter caught on a bush next to the secret entrance that led them exactly nowhere. While the light lasted, they combed the woods, but somehow Zeltrax had managed to spirit Elsa away without leaving footprints or broken twigs or bruised grass. They had hoped that all of Mesogog’s technology had been destroyed with the lair, but it seemed more and more likely that Zeltrax still had access to portals, and possibly more of Mesogog’s technology.

Kira stood in the middle of a clearing in the woods, turning in an unseeing circle, while the shadows of the trees grew longer. She didn’t even realise that Dr O had spoken to her until he put his hand on her arm and startled her into flinching.

“Go back now, Kira. It’s getting too late to do anything tonight, and you’ve had a rough day. You can have the couch again tonight, unless you want to go home?”

She shook her head mutely at the gentle question.

“I’m sending the boys home now too. We’re not going to do any good tomorrow if we’re all exhausted.”

Kira was vaguely aware of the boys calling out to her as she plodded back up the hill. Without even waiting to wash up, she collapsed onto the couch, and Dr O’s voice was a soothing murmur in the background as she fell into sleep. Down in what was left of the lab, Hayley was still trying to put the wreckage in some sort of order, and sift through the camera feeds and sensor data.

At some point Kira was distantly aware of someone draping a quilt over her, and a careful hand brushing the hair back from her forehead. She sighed and let herself drift back into sleep.

Not long after dawn, however, Kira was woken up by the insistent sound of her morpher. Zeltrax had decided to make it easy for them to find him – it was a little hard to miss the giant zord stomping through the city, broadcasting challenges to the Power Rangers.

As Kira followed the rest of the team as they transformed, she tilted her helmet to stare up at the massive Zelzord looming over them.

“Power Rangers!” boomed the zord in Zeltrax’s magnified voice. “Stop there, or my most precious cargo will be destroyed!”

The Red Ranger shook his head. “I bet he’s got Elsa in there.”

“Correct!” thundered the zord. “I want for her to see your demise.”

At Zeltrax’s command, an army of his robotic triptoids leaped into action, and the Rangers fought them off. The challenge, Kira found as she rolled out of the way, wasn’t the triptoids but the random blasts of crackling green lightning that exploded from the Zelzord and scorched the air around them.

Kira found herself knocked off balance, and came to her feet beside the Black Ranger.

“This has gone far enough,” he said forcefully, and he turned his head to find the White Ranger. “Trent! Do you think you can handle the triptoids?”

There was an affirmative nod from the white helmet.

“Not a problem,” Trent answered flatly, swinging his dragoblade in a purposeful arc as he started towards the cluster of triptoids still standing.

Dr O’s helmet swung back to take in Kira and the boys. “You guys get the zords. I’m going after Elsa.”

Kira ignored the faint and inexplicable stab of something as Dr O took off after Elsa again, swinging himself powerfully up towards the Zelzord, and turned to the approaching rumble of the Rangers’ zords. She leaped lightly into the air and was pulled into her place beside Conner in the cockpit.

The mighty metal giants crashed together in combat, and Kira swayed and staggered as they disengaged with bone-shaking force. As she was violently flung into the console, it suddenly felt like something inside her had jarred loose.

Behind her dark visor, she glared at the colossal Zelzord filling up the screen in front of them. Dr O was in there, trying to do the right thing and save Elsa - _again!_ a small, snarky part of her added - and every time the giant zords crashed together it was growing more and more dangerous for him. There was nothing she could do in the Megazord but watch the battle and worry.

She closed her eyes. _Breathe in. Breathe out_. Her mind was a storm of fear and anger, and slowly, deliberately she let those thoughts go. Nothing mattered right now, not the mess at school, or Cheryl Armstrong, or the trouble with her parents. _Breathe in._ It didn’t matter that she knew she was going to get her heart broken, because Dr O would never see her as anything other than his student and protégé. _Breathe out._ Or the gut-wrenching certainty that this fight was far from over. _Breathe in._ None of it mattered.

_Breathe out._

She knew what she needed to do.

_Let it all go._

_Open your awareness._

As another blow shook them, Kira’s hazel eyes opened.

“I’m going to help Dr O.”

She was on her feet and moving to the hatch, not stopping as she heard Conner shout her name.

And she launched herself into the sky without a second thought.


	19. Chapter 19

Tommy had a weird moment as his former friend shot him, when he got the stories about Valkyries coming for the heroic dead. Maybe he really had died, because instead of the pain he was braced for, he was blinded by the deflected explosion of Zeltrax’s blast, and when his sight cleared he saw his Valkyrie standing over him, a sword in her hand.

Kira swept her sword clear with a turn of the wrist, sparks still flickering along the edge of her blade. She turned her head briefly towards him, then back to focus on Zeltrax.

Kira closed in on Zeltrax as the warped creature strode towards them, and Tommy’s heart gave a sickening lurch of fear as Zeltrax swept her feet from under her, but she was up and braced for the next move before he’d even recovered. Tommy attacked, knowing even as Zeltrax shot at him, that his timing was off. He hit the ground hard, the wind knocked out of him, and heard Elsa shout his name. Kira was at his side in an instant, crouched protectively over him as he blinked and pushed himself to his feet with Kira’s hand on his arm.

Zeltrax clenched his hands, dark lightning crawling all over him as he tensed and swelled.

The creature roared, “Maximum Power!”

As the lightning cleared, Zeltrax bristled with wicked looking points on his armour, his visor glowing with a malevolent light. He took one heavy step towards them, and Tommy and Kira braced themselves, side by side.

“You and me, Tommy!” Zeltrax was snarling.

“Kira,” Tommy said urgently, “get Elsa.”

Kira stepped back out of his line of sight. There was the sound of two rapid laser blasts, and Kira’s voice telling Elsa, “I’ve got you.”

Tommy focused on Zeltrax, his attention narrowed, knowing that Kira would do what was needed to get Elsa to safety. He swung his brachiostaff at Zeltrax and they both rocked with the impact of the blow. Zeltrax flung him away.

The battle was swift and ferocious, sparks flying. As Tommy stumbled back from another savage attack, he heard Kira yell, “Hey, freak!” He saw Zeltrax raise his hand, only to be dropped by two sudden laser blasts to the chest. Tommy glanced back with pride as Kira quickly holstered her weapon and spoke into her morpher.

“Guys,” she said briskly. “I’ve got her. We’re coming out.”

Tommy pushed himself to his feet as Kira helped Elsa up.

“Let’s go,” he said to them. And Zeltrax rose up again.

The armoured warrior growled, “You’re not going anywhere!”

Zeltrax raised his hands in the air, and black lightning shot from them, tearing through the zord around them. The ground shook under their feet. Beyond the zord they could hear the thunder of grinding metal and the deafening crash as lightning lashed out.

Zeltrax roared, coming at them with his wicked, long battle-axe raised.

And a giant red and gold drill slammed through the wall, knocking Zeltrax into an unconscious heap. As the drill retreated, Tommy, Kira and Elsa were left staring at the massive hole, and the winking, metal face of their Thundersaurus on the other side.

Kira was the first to pull herself together, shouting, “Let’s go!” as she grabbed Elsa’s arm and dragged the older woman with her to leap through the jagged hole in the Zelzord. As Tommy moved to follow, Zeltrax came to his feet and charged, his barbed weapon raised. Tommy parried and spun away, but Zeltrax followed.

“Smitty, stop!” Tommy cried in desperation, but Zeltrax just snarled. Catapulting himself off the wall, Tommy used the momentum to slide under the swing of Zeltrax’s blade, knocking the creature’s armoured legs out from under him with a sweep of his brachiostaff.

As Tommy came to his feet, he could see that Zeltrax was down. He wouldn’t stay down for long, but Tommy wasn’t going to hang around and wait for him to get up again. Tommy broke into a run and launched himself from the zord, even as he heard Zeltrax’s bellow of fury behind him.

It was a long fall, but Tommy hit the ground and came to his feet in one controlled motion, his head turning to find Kira and Elsa and Trent before he’d even straightened up.


	20. Chapter 20

Kira watched Dr O leap from the Zelzord, and it wasn’t until he’d landed and rolled to his feet that she let out the breath she’d been holding. Even as he turned to them, the ground shook with the force of Zeltrax’s impact.

“You didn’t think I’d let you get away that easily, did you?” Zeltrax snarled. As he strode forward, Kira and Dr O instinctively moved together to block his path. Out of the corner of her eye, Kira could see Trent hustle Elsa to safety, and she let out a small huff of relief.

With the vulnerable civilian out of the line of fire, Kira’s whole attention was on Zeltrax. She spun her pteragrip blades, feeling them settle into her hands as she shifted her stance to fall in beside Dr O. His helmet turned her way.

“You with me, Kira?” he said, and although she couldn’t see his face, she could hear the smile in his voice. Behind her visor, she grinned in response. Did he even need to ask?

“Oh, yeah,” she promised. _Always._

They charged at Zeltrax, keeping pace together, and somersaulted into Zeltrax with double force. As Kira rolled to her feet, Dr O at her side, Zeltrax twitched and shook as black lightning again gathered around him, condensing and building. But this time, the lightning seemed to have him trapped in its coils as the black light writhed and tightened around him. And exploded in a cataclysmic burst.

For one long moment, Kira and Dr O kept their guard up, poised until they were certain it was all over, but the fireball died down and there was no sign of Zeltrax other than a smoking, scorched mark on the concrete. The Black Ranger’s helmet turned to Kira, and Dr O’s voice said warmly, “Nice teamwork, Kira.”

Kira was rather glad that he couldn’t see her blushing behind her dark visor at that moment.

They didn’t have long to congratulate themselves, though. High overhead, the Rangers’ Thundersaurus was still locked in battle with the Zelzord.

Dr O raised his communicator.

“Conner, you’re going to need all the zords,” he said urgently. A moment later, Kira felt the ground rumble as the dinosaur zords thundered over the horizon and gathered at the edge of the city. Kira’s pterazord swept in a yellow arc over them all, and she drew a tense breath. They were all still too close to the city, too much destruction waiting to happen, unless Conner could draw the Zelzord away, or end the fight quickly.

A fierce light grew around the zords, coalesced, and shot in a wide, brilliant beam at the Zelzord, and as the mechanical giant staggered and crashed into buildings around it, Kira thought for a moment that they’d won. But even as she turned to Dr O in relief, something was happening.

It was as though the Zelzord had levitated, bathed in lightning, as a concussive wave of emerald force closed in on it. Kira flung up a protective arm as dust and detritus was sucked towards the monumental zords, and over her head rocks the size of small cars were flying past. The Thundersaurus was rocking where it stood as debris smacked into it with punishing force.

“You have to sacrifice the zords,” Dr O was saying, and Kira turned to him in dismay. “You have to. It’s the only way.

Kira heard the distant crackle of Conner’s reluctant assent.

Slowly, the Thundersaurus lifted its heavy feet, no longer resisting the cyclonic pull of the wind. The earth shook as it slammed into the Zelzord and both mighty zords toppled slowly into the city below.

Kira barely had time to spare a thought for the civilians in that part of the city, hoping that they’d been evacuated as they should have been when the battle began. As she watched with her heart in her mouth, a massive explosion rippled outwards, and the thunder followed, throwing up smoke and dust to cover the sky.

She could hear Dr O muttering under his breath, “Get out of there. Conner, Ethan, get out of there.”

The dust was slowly clearing, and they were all running towards the destroyed site, over the broken rubble. Kira demorphed as she stumbled to a stop, her boots skidding on the shattered ground, and she coughed as she drew in a lungful of dust and particles in the air. Dr O and Trent closed in beside her.

“Where _are_ they?” Kira breathed, straining to see through the thick smoke that swirled around them as they got closer. She wasn’t willing to even consider the possibility that her team-mates hadn’t made it out in time. Something stirred in the dense cloud. Something was moving towards them.

“Ethan?” Kira called out, hoping against hope. And the boys staggered through the destruction. “Conner!”

Kira was the first there, the first to throw her arms around them and pound them on the back, and then she backed off in embarrassed relief.

“That was impressive,” she told them, still grinning, and they grinned back at her, and then Ethan’s smile melted.

“But the zords,” he said sadly. “They’re destroyed.”

And Kira felt a stab of loss for her beautiful pterazord.

“It was the only way. You guys did what you had to do,” Dr O said sympathetically, and Trent made a sound of assent.

“Nothing else would have stopped it,” Trent agreed.

“So that’s it, then,” Conner said, a note of anger in his voice. “It can’t just be over.”

And a chilling voice behind them growled, “Of course it’s not over.”

Kira turned slowly. There, like the worst nightmare, was Mesogog.

Dr O sighed. “Why do they always come back for more?”

“You destroyed my plans of creating a perfect world,” Mesogog’s sibilant voice sent chills up Kira’s spine. “However, I was able to absorb enough dino gem energy to complete my transfiguration.”

He gestured, and glittering power began to coalesce around his claw.

“Witness the face of your final battle!”

Mesogog began to swell to monstrous size, all claws and spiny growths. His reptilian head was full of wicked teeth as it swayed towards them on an elongated neck.

Under her breath, Kira muttered, “Man, that’s ugly.”

“You’d better step aside, Elsa,” Dr O was saying, and the dark-haired woman hurried to hide behind a broken concrete wall, out of the line of fire. Dr O turned towards Kira and the boys, his face set and purposeful.

“You guys ready for one more battle?”

As Kira raised her hands into guard position, she could see Ethan out of the corner of her eye, his face grim, but Conner’s eyes were alight as he looked back at Dr O and said, “Oh yeah!”


	21. Chapter 21

Once more, they powered up, and Kira called the power of the pterodactyl, settling her pteragrips firmly in her hands as they came to her.

Mesogog narrowed his reptilian eyes at them, head snaking back and forth as he snarled.

“This is it,” Conner decided. Of one accord, the Rangers charged into battle.

Kira threw everything she had at the beast until she felt herself knocked flying. Dr O, Ethan and Trent fell hard beside her, but they were the distraction that Conner needed to attack Mesogog from behind, leaping to wrap his arm around the creature’s neck as he fought to choke Mesogog. It wasn’t enough, and Mesogog shook him off like a bug.

The prehistoric monster hit Trent and Ethan with a blaze of power that knocked them down, and turned on Dr O. As Kira turned, she could see the Black Ranger slam backwards into a car. Mesogog flexed a hand, pinning him there as lightning flashed through Dr O. His whole body clenched and shook with the force, and Kira stumbled in fear.

She was moving, screaming at Mesogog to back off, before Dr O had even hit the ground, and the monster bared teeth at her, shoving the car at her with a backhanded blow. Kira didn’t even pause, catapulting over the car just before it could slam into her. She was airborne, intent on Mesogog, as he swept up his claws to catch her in the lightning fire. Kira felt it blaze with agonising ferocity through every vein in her body.

She fell.

 

Afterwards, Kira was never sure how much of that battle she missed before she regained consciousness, but when she finally came to and managed to stagger to her feet, Conner had Mesogog trapped in the fiery red beam of his Battle Blast cannons. As Mesogog slammed into a pile of metal drums and concrete, crackling with lightning, the Red Ranger landed, and they all stumbled towards him.

“You did it, Conner!” Kira cheered, but the broken concrete exploded and there was Mesogog, uglier than ever.

Then there were two of him.

“He’s replicating!” Conner yelled. The Mesogogs blurred and split into four.

“One was bad enough,” Ethan said in disbelief. “How do we fight them all?”

“Guys, we have to use all our powers. It’s the only way,” Dr O said, and Kira could hear the regret in his voice.

Conner turned to him, frowning, then he squared his shoulders. “Right,” he said, and Ethan and Kira nodded their acceptance as Trent said, “Do it, Conner.”

Without a second thought, Kira turned to Conner, her hand on his shoulder, and willed everything she had into him, and saw the others doing the same. She saw Conner thrust his hand into the sky, golden and livid, and light poured out of him, boiled up into the air, became a writhing form over them all. Her breath was coming harder now, heart pounding, but still she forced this bright energy through her fingertips into her team-mate. She could barely make out the outline of Conner’s form in the brilliant light, turning the golden air around him to scarlet fire.

Behind Conner, his hand on the Red Ranger’s back and his head bowed, was the Black Ranger, and Kira sucked in a painful breath.

She bit down on the cry of agony that tried to escape her, and the snaking light surged and grew teeth, a glorious Triassic shape that roared in triumph, swelled, and slammed down to devour Mesogog in an explosion as the evil creature raised his arms in useless self-defence.

The concussion stole Kira’s sight, took all sound with it, and almost drove her to her knees as it took the last of her strength. She staggered, and planted her feet wider. As her vision cleared, she stared around vaguely, but there was nothing there. No sign of Mesogog. No sign of his minions. Just four teenagers and their science teacher standing in the rubble with oddly-coloured, lifeless rocks in their hands.

And two would-be reporters, scrambling over the wreckage towards them, with the woman who had been Elsa in their wake.


	22. Chapter 22

Cassidy was wearing the look of a little girl who couldn’t quite believe that she’d actually got the unicorn she’d wanted for Christmas. Devin was watching Cassidy, his eyes a little sad.

“Hello, Rangers,” she beamed, and they all stared at her warily.

“So you know, then,” Conner said slowly.

Devin grimaced. “Well, I kind of already knew, but I had to show Cassidy in person.”

“This is like the greatest thing ever!” Cassidy bubbled, and threw her arms around Devin, who looked a little startled. “And we’ve got it all on tape. You know, a reporter could make a whole career out of this.”

As the rest of them stood there in frozen shock, Dr O moved forward cautiously.

“Cassidy,” he said slowly, “do you realise what our lives will be like if that tape gets out?”

She was still beaming. “Yeah, I do.” And her bright smile grew softer as she held out the tape in her hands to Dr O, waving it a little impatiently as he just stared at it. “That’s why I’m giving this to you.”

Kira could see her own incredulity mirrored in everyone else’s face.

“Wait,” she protested. “Cassidy passing up the scoop of a lifetime? Why?”

“Because you’re my friends,” the blonde reporter told her. Cassidy turned to take in the whole team. “And it wouldn’t be right to ruin your lives just to make mine better. Not after everything you’ve done for us.”

“I always knew there was a heart deep down in there somewhere,” said Ethan, and Conner grinned. The bright look that Cassidy turned on Devin made Kira smile.

“Yeah, I just needed someone to help me find it,” Cassidy said, and tucked her hand through Devin’s arm. “Now, if you’ll excuse us…”

“Yeah, we’re off to the prom,” Devin beamed at them, and Cassidy’s beaming smile turned mischievous as she took in their startled expressions.

“You haven’t forgotten that it’s prom night have you?” she teased. “I mean, I know you just saved the world, but this is _the prom._ ”

As they walked away, there was a moment of stunned silence. Then, “Finally!” Kira said. “I thought those two were never going to get together.”

Conner grinned. “And just like that, life goes back to normal.”

Dr O smiled at them all, but there was something sad behind his dark eyes.

“Your life may be normal,” he said wryly, “but trust me, it’ll never be the same.”

Conner and Ethan were already heading away from the industrial lot, and the sound of their friendly bickering drifted back to Kira. Trent moved to follow, shooting a look back at Kira, but she refused to meet his eyes.

As the boys rounded the wall of broken concrete, Dr O said her name.

“Kira?”

Kira turned back. Dr O was fidgeting with something in his fingers, but when he held it out to her she saw that it was the tape that Cassidy had given him. She looked up at him in shock.

“Show your parents,” he said quietly.

“You were serious about that?” She glanced behind her to where Conner and Ethan were laughing about something. “What about the guys? Are you giving this to them too?”

“They don’t need it. You do.”

He was still holding it out to her, and slowly she reached up to take it. Their fingers touched. For a long moment, Kira held the tape, turning it in her hand, then abruptly she gave it back to him.

“Keep it. I’ve got this covered.”

“What are you going to do?” Dr O asked.

She shrugged. “Deal with the fallout. How bad can it be? They can’t lock me out forever, and they can’t ground me forever either.” She gave him a small grin. “Although if they’ve changed the locks, I may need your couch again tonight.”

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “Any time, Kira.”

 

Kira ran lightly over the broken concrete, jumping a fallen steel beam, until she caught up with Cassidy. She caught the blonde girl’s arm, and Cassidy came to a surprised stop.

“So when are you running the story?” Kira asked, trying to make it sound light, but she could hear the strain in her own voice.

“What story?”

“Reefside’s Loser Slut Smacks Out Cheerleader.”

“Oh, please. With everything that’s been going on at school, you think that anyone cares about you and Cheryl going all WWE?”

Cassidy got a faraway look in her eye.

“Of course, if Cheryl tries anything, I might have to come up with something. Cheerleader Attempts to Sabotage Reefside High’s Future Rock Star. Now, there’s a story I can run with. And every student at Reefside High who ever had anything to do with Cheryl is going to be cheering for you by the end of it.”

Kira stared at her in considerable surprise.

“Cassidy, you are evil,” she said in awe, and Cassidy beamed.

“I know.”


	23. Chapter 23

Kira stood on her doorstep, shifting nervously from one foot to the other. She lifted a hand, and dropped it, then lifted it again and knocked sharply.

She could hear the sound of urgent footsteps inside, and the door was opened abruptly before she had a chance to wimp out. Her mother was staring at her, her face drawn and dark lines under her eyes.

Before Kira could say anything, her mother engulfed her.

“Kira, thank God,” she breathed, and Kira’s arms went up tentatively, hugging her back. For a long moment they stood there together, wordless and close.

“Oh, sweetheart, where have you been?” her mother said finally, her voice cracking a little. Kira could see dark circles under her eyes. “We’ve been so worried. We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“I went to a friend’s place.”

“I’m so sorry I locked you out.” Her mom drew a deep breath. “But whatever is going on, we’ll work it out. As long as you’re safe.”

There were more hugs in the lounge room with her father, who was still looking bruised and faded as he pushed himself out of his chair to put his arms around his daughter, until finally Kira stood between them, trying to find the right words.

“Mom, Dad, I am so sorry about all of this. I know you don’t trust me right now, but it’s over, all that climbing out the window and disappearing on you. I can’t tell you what I was doing, or where I was, but… I think…” her voice was cracking “… I think you’d be proud of me if you knew. And it’s finished now.”

Her mother’s face was a shifting kaleidoscope, as if she couldn’t work out where to start, but Kira’s father was staring at her with an odd little frown.

Her mother finally tried, “But… why can’t you tell us?”

“It’s not my secret to tell,” Kira said desperately. “I’ll take the consequences, but I can’t break that promise.”

“I think we have to trust Kira,” her father put in, and Kira’s mom turned on him in surprise. “Elaine, why don’t you get us some coffee while we all talk about it? Kira looks like she could use it.”

He waited until her mother had moved away to the kitchen, then turned back.

“Kira,” her dad said quietly. “You’re the Yellow Ranger, aren’t you?”

Kira felt her brain freeze up. No words came to help her out.

“Dad,” she scoffed unconvincingly. “That’s crazy!”

“I heard you in the hospital. It does explain a lot. But, honeybear, I have to tell your mom. I know this has to be a secret, but she needs to know.”

Kira took a deep breath, released it. Drew another breath, trying not to hyperventilate.

Her father asked, “Which one is the guy who brought you to the hospital?”

“Black Ranger,” she responded faintly, and he nodded.

“You should invite him round for dinner sometime. We’d like to meet him.”

There was a noise in the doorway, and they both looked around. Her mother was standing there, the jar of coffee forgotten in her hand.

“Roger? You can’t be serious.”

There was a long, silent pause.

“I’m not joking,” he said calmly.

“You’re really serious about this, Roger?” her mother repeated. “You seriously think that our daughter is a Power Ranger? That all this time, she’s really been climbing out her window to fight all those battles as a superhero?”

Kira felt as though she was holding her breath. Her mother was still standing there with the coffee jar in her hand, her eyes shifting from her husband to Kira and back again.

“And that young man at the hospital?” she asked slowly. “He’s the Black Ranger?”

Kira nodded.

“But I thought you said he was your science teacher.”

Kira nodded again.

Her mother frowned. “How could he let you do something so dangerous?”

“Elaine,” her father cautioned.

Kira said incredulously, “Let me? He couldn’t have stopped me if he’d tried! Don’t you get it, Mom? I had a chance to do something big, something that made a difference. And it was amazing.”

For one moment, Kira remembered the sensation of flying the pterazord, and caught her breath.

“How could I possibly turn that down? And Dr O’s done everything he could to train us and keep us safe. I couldn’t have had a better martial arts mentor, or friend.”

“Wait, you know martial arts?”

“That’s what you’re focused on here? Dr O’s been training us in martial arts for the past year.” Kira bit her lip self-consciously. “I’m actually pretty good at it.”

“And the rest of the Power Rangers?”

“You’ve met them. Ethan is the Blue Ranger, and Conner McKnight is the Red Ranger.”

“The soccer-player?” her father asked curiously.

“Yeah, he’s our leader.”

“Wait, the soccer-player is your leader? I thought the Black Ranger was the lead.”

Kira laughed faintly. “The Black Ranger trained us, and advised us. And he’s been a Ranger before, so he kept us out of a lot of trouble and made sure we had the equipment we needed. We couldn’t have done it without him.”

Her father said, “I’m guessing that the White Ranger who pulled me out of the rubble is that boy you brought home for study sessions sometimes.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there, daddy,” Kira said a little shakily. “I know Trent did everything he could, but I wasn’t there and you got hurt.”

Her mother looked at her as if she was still trying to process everything. “You said… the Yellow Ranger was at Reefside High that day?”

Kira nodded.

“That was you? You saved the school.”

Kira nodded again, a tentative, wobbly movement. “With the Black Ranger.”

“And today, that big battle?”

“We fought Zeltrax and Mesogog, and we destroyed them,” Kira told her. “It’s all over. But, Mom, I lost my powers.” The enormity of that finally caught up with Kira, and she felt the tears spilling over as her mother’s arms closed around her. She could feel her father stroking her hair.

“Oh, honey,” he said a little sadly. “We’re so very proud of you.”


	24. Chapter 24

It didn’t matter how many times Tommy went through this, he always hated that feeling of disconnection that came after the big victory. He walked in a weird, bubble that felt miles removed from all the noise and people around him, as if his senses had been stripped along with his Ranger powers, and it felt all the stranger this time to be at the senior prom and surrounded by happiness and glitter and too damn many people.

The dark wood and red velvet of the old town hall had become something soft and magical under the influence of the prom committee. Against the columns that lined the ballroom, fairy lights twinkled and shone on the glitter and the clusters of dark red and gold balloons, and a stray balloon drifted up to bob against the ornate plaster ceiling. Kids leaned over the carved gallery bannisters above to grin and shower cellophane down on the bright crowd of their friends in the ballroom below.

Tommy walked slowly up the broad staircase, smiling politely at everyone who spoke to him without really hearing them properly, until he’d found a quiet space in the gallery that ran around the ballroom. For a long moment, he stood there, watching everyone below him until he felt someone come to stand beside him.

“I didn’t get a chance to say thank you,” said Elsa’s soft voice, and he glanced at the woman who was so very different now, tall and elegant in her formal dress, her eyes warmer than the villain-Elsa’s could ever have been.

“You don’t need to thank me,” he said, summoning up a smile for her. “It was our pleasure.”

“And yet, thank you. More than I can possibly tell you, thank you for taking care of me when Mesogog drained me, and for saving me from Zeltrax when he took me.” Elsa leaned in, and she kissed him.

It was sweet and gentle, nothing like the evil Elsa, but she must have sensed his reluctance because she stepped back with a regretful smile.

“I’m sorry,” Tommy said softly, and Elsa’s gaze shifted to glance at the curtained stage in the ballroom below.

“I had a feeling it was a lost cause,” Elsa said cryptically, “but it was worth a try.”

The dark-haired woman smiled up at him, and moved away. Tommy leaned on the balustrade with one hand and smiled down at the boys and their dates as Anton and Trent came to join him. This was their happy ending, and he was pretty sure they’d be just fine. And Trent was off to art school, with his father’s blessing. Another happy ending there.

And Kira… Kira had the whole world in front of her. She’d be leaving Reefside behind her after graduation, too.

“What about you?” Anton Mercer was saying behind him. “What’s the guy who’s done it all going to do?”

“I was thinking about staying here and teaching. Living the quiet life,” Tommy responded lightly, ignoring the unsettled feeling those words left behind. This was his ending, happy or not.

He pulled his attention back as Elsa came back to the group, joking about the hard time he was going to have with her as the new principal. There was laughter, and warmth, and suddenly Tommy felt very outside of it all, as Anton drew Elsa away to dance.

“I’ve got to go,” he said abruptly, and Trent looked at him in surprise.

“You’re out of here?” the boy said.

“No, I’ve got to go and introduce the band.”

Tommy made his way slowly down to the back of the stage, his eyes finding Kira in the dimness behind the stage curtains. She was frowning with a familiar, focused absorption on the space in front of her, the low stage lights glinting on the dark gold kinks of her hair as she bent over her guitar, and catching on the gilt pattern of her dress every time she shifted. Tommy couldn’t help smiling a little as he noticed that she was wearing her favourite combat boots. She was completely oblivious to everything going on around, lost in her own bubble of music as her fingers moved over the guitar strings to tune them.

The other guitarist gave him an awkward nod of acknowledgement from the other side of the shadowed stage, and Tommy turned to the drummer, who had come up behind him.

“Got everything you need?” Tommy asked, and the lanky kid nodded, twirling his drumsticks between his fingers.

“So, are you planning on keeping up with the band after school finishes?” Tommy asked, making casual conversation while they watched Kira tune up with her usual intense concentration.

“Nah, it’s just, you know, a hobby. I mean, I love it, but I’m going to work with my dad next year.” The kid grinned. “I figure my claim to fame’ll be that I was Kira Ford’s drummer before she became famous, you know?”

Tommy stepped in front of the stage curtains and spoke to the sea of faces. He sought out his team, and their eyes were older behind the smiles on their faces, a look of hard-won growth from sacrifice that they hadn’t really had a chance to process yet. Then Tommy stepped aside.

And Kira was there, lighting up the stage, shining like gold. Where she belonged.

Tommy cheered harder than anyone, grinning up at her when her glance found him in the crowd. For a fraction of a second, he imagined she was singing to him.

_I can picture you and me More than coming closer…_

This was a new song, one of her best yet. He whistled and clapped as the crowd roared its enthusiasm around him. He stayed where he was on the dance floor, staring up at the stage, until the last note had faded away and Kira, glowing like the sun with happiness, had taken her last bow, and then Tommy slipped out the door, heading for peace and relative quiet before his smile cracked.

 

Kira slipped away from the prom, still tingling from the performance, to draw breath outside. In the cool darkness, Kira could see a familiar shadowy figure sitting on the bench behind the hall, leaning back to look up at the stars. Kira walked towards him, the noise and light from the hall muted by the night breeze.

“Hey, Dr O,” she said softly, and he straightened, giving her that lopsided smile that always made her heart stutter.

“Hey, Kira. You were amazing up there tonight.”

He reached up to her, and for one second Kira held her breath, until he pulled a stray piece of gold cellophane from her hair.

She sighed. “So this is my last night of freedom.”

Dr O raised an eyebrow at her.

“Mom and Dad agreed to let me perform tonight, but after this I’m grounded for the rest of eternity, and weekend detention starts tomorrow.”

“And you’re ok?”

Kira shrugged philosophically.

“It could be worse.” She shot a look at him. “They found out about the Ranger thing.”

“You decided to tell them anyway?”

“Nope, they figured it out on their own. We should have been a little more careful at the hospital; Dad wasn’t as unconscious as I thought he was. And they want you to come round for dinner sometime. But punching Cheryl is another matter, so I’m grounded. And I have to buy her a new phone.”

Kira tilted her head to look up at the stars.

“My mom is mostly okay with me sneaking out to fight mutant dinosaurs, but she does _not_ need to know why I fought the cheerleader.”

“I’m sorry you got dragged into Cheryl’s vendetta against me.”

Kira shrugged philosophically, and grinned.

“I know I shouldn’t say this, but it was worth it just for the look on her face when she realised that I’d actually punched her. And it’s only six weeks to graduation, anyway. I can live with it. Although detention with Cheryl is going to be fun.”

Kira rolled her eyes, and Dr O laughed.

“Has she given you any more trouble?”

“No, Cassidy’s taken care of it.”

Dr O’s eyebrow lifted. “Cassidy?”

“I know. It surprised the hell out of me, too, but I’m not complaining. Cheryl isn’t going to know what hit her with Cassidy on the case.”

Kira stretched, enjoying the cool air after the warm stuffiness inside the hall.

“So what’s next for you, Dr O? Back to digging up bones?”

“I’m going to stick with teaching. It’s probably safer for the world if I don’t go back to research,” Dr O said with an attempt at lightness, but Kira could see the hint of bleakness behind his dark eyes and felt a sudden blaze of fury.

“Thomas Oliver, are you still buying into that shit about all this being your fault?” she snarled at him, and he flashed a startled look at her. “Just because your boss made a stupid decision that got him turned into a mutant dinosaur thing, and you had to clean up the mess, doesn’t mean you have to bury yourself in Reefside.”

“What if I want to?” he snapped back, and Kira lifted an eyebrow.

“Do you?”

She waited for him to answer, but instead he deflected, turning away to stare into the darkness.

“So what are you doing out here? Not spending your last night of freedom with Trent?” he asked, his voice still a little tense, and Kira let out a hiss of exasperation.

“Jeez! Why does everyone keep… Look, I’m not with Trent!”

“Then he’s an idiot,” There was an unexpected edge in Dr O’s voice.

“Or maybe I’m the idiot,” Kira snapped. “I’m the one who wouldn’t go to the prom with him when he asked.”

She sighed and folded her arms across her chest. “I admit, there was about five seconds, way back when we first met him, when I let myself have a crush on Trent. At least he was available, and interested. But it was never going to work.”

“Why not?”

Kira glared at him. “Because he’s not you, you idiot.”

Dr O was staring at her, a stunned look in his dark eyes.

“Look, don’t worry, I’m not going to go all stalker-chick on you, like Cheryl, and I know you and Kim-“

Whatever she had been going to say was cut off as he came abruptly to his feet, his mouth on hers before she knew what was happening. And every last thought in her head dissolved in a cascade of fire that ran through every vein in her body. His fingers were tangled in her hair and her hands reached up to clutch at his shirt for a long, breathless moment.

When they finally came up for air, Kira saw his dark eyes go wide, as if he’d just realised what he’d done. As he shifted back half a step, Kira tightened her grip on his shirt.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” she said fiercely. “You don’t kiss me like that and then go all noble on me, Tommy Oliver.”

“I shouldn’t have done that,” he said reluctantly.

“Why? Because you didn’t really mean it?”

“God, no!” The response was involuntary. “Because I’m your teacher. And you’re my team mate.”

“Not anymore,” Kira said a little sadly. “It’s the one good thing about losing our powers and not being the Ranger team. You’re not my mentor anymore. But don’t worry, I’m not going to ruin your teaching career.”

“I don’t care about that,” Tommy cut her off with a hint of exasperation. “But there’s a reason it’s taboo, Kira. I don’t want to coerce or even unconsciously manipulate you into thinking this is what you want.”

And Kira laughed.

“You couldn’t coerce me into anything, even if you wanted to, Tommy. I’m willing to wait until after graduation, if it’ll convince you that I’m serious, but after that, you don’t stand a chance.”

“I never did,” he told her, the beginnings of a smile flickering at the corners of his mouth.

“And you are going to spend the next six weeks thinking about this.”

Kira reached up to take his face in her hands, and she pulled him down for another heart-stopping kiss.

 

When they finally returned to the prom, the boys didn’t seem to notice the silly grin that Kira couldn’t seem to wipe off her face, or the way she and Tommy were a little too close, fingertips drifting together, not quite holding hands. But Hayley noticed.

The older woman’s keen glance flicked down to where their hands weren’t quite joined, and back up again. As soon as the boys had moved out of earshot with their dates, Hayley turned on Tommy, her arms crossed.

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing here? Kira’s seven years younger than you. She’s your student, for crying out loud.”

“Not helping, Hayley,” Kira muttered, and the older woman ignored her.

“And how are the boys going to react? Tommy, what are you thinking?”

Tommy stared her down.

“I’m thinking that as long as Kira’s happy, I don’t care.”

Hayley watched him for one long moment, then, “About bloody time, Dr Oliver.”

A broad smile spread across her face and she leaned in to hug Tommy. Kira caught the whisper, “So, should I start asking around about that fellowship?”

Ethan and his date were swaying gently to the music, barely aware of anything around them. On the other side of the dance floor, Conner was listening to Krista, who was gesturing animatedly, and Tommy was drawn away by Anton Mercer as he and Trent came over to say goodnight. The DJ was starting to slow things down, and the music was reaching the end of the night. People were starting to leave, but Kira felt curiously reluctant to end the perfect night. They’d saved the world; they deserved to enjoy the after-party.

Slowly, the prom wound up, giggling teenagers disappearing into the night leaving drifts of glitter and cellophane in their wake. Kira stood under the fairy lights, her eyes on the tall, dark man leaning against the stage now, talking to one of the other teachers. Tommy turned his head, meeting her gaze, and her heart stuttered as he smiled at her.

As he tilted the glass in his hand in a small, private salute, Kira grinned back. She felt someone come up behind her, and turned as Hayley put a hand on her arm.

“Look after him,” Hayley said softly.

And Kira said, “Oh, I will. Always.”


	25. Epilogue

Kira walked down the empty weekend hall of Reefside High, feeling nostalgic. She hitched her bag further up her shoulder, hooking a thumb through the strap, and did a slow turn, taking it in. The fluorescent lights overhead shone on the greasy handprints that someone had left on the trophy case, and there was still a trail of Starry Night Prom 2004 posters wandering into the distance along the walls. The vinyl floor squeaked under her combat boots as she walked, and echoed in the emptiness. Detention was where it had all started, and it seemed oddly fitting that this was where it had come back to.

It felt weird to consider that there had been a time when she’d maybe passed Ethan or Conner in the corridors and never given them a second thought. Before the dino gems had claimed them. Before she’d met Tommy Oliver. That first day of detention, as it turned out, had been a busy one.

She’d never been particularly aware of Ethan before that day, but _everyone_ at Reefside High knew about Conner McKnight, the soccer legend, the womaniser, the brainless jerk… depending on who you talked to. And now, they were best friends. More than friends – Conner and Ethan were brothers who had fought beside her, and who she knew would risk their lives for her, because they’d done just that, over and over again, as she had done for them.

It seemed funny to think that they’d never so much as exchanged two words together before Principal Randall tapped them for detention together.

Tommy had forged them into a team, had trained them and protected them and given them so much, but in a weird way it had been Elsa who had brought the Dino Thunder Rangers together in the first place, when she gave them all detention together. Kira grinned at the thought, wondering if that had ever occurred to Elsa.

 And things came full circle. As she pushed open the classroom door, Cheryl looked up from her nails with a sour twist to her mouth, and Kira had a sudden vision of Cheryl being chosen as a Power Ranger. The idea almost made Kira laugh out loud.

“What are you smirking at?” Cheryl snapped, and Kira’s grin grew wider. “I suppose you’re happy, now you’ve sicked your little reporter-geek friend on me,” the cheerleader sneered.

“That reporter-geek is going to be collecting her Pulitzer while you’re still trying to figure out what happened to the best years of your life, Cheryl, so you might want to back off,” Kira told her, inwardly amused to hear herself defending Cassidy. _My, how the world has changed._ She shrugged happily. “Or I could just punch you in the face again. Whatever works for you.”

Kira hummed her song from the prom under her breath, nodding cheerfully to the handful of other students slumped miserably in chairs scattered around the classroom, before Cheryl broke in with reluctant curiosity.

“So what the hell are you so happy about? You’re stuck here in detention, too, for the rest of the year.”

“Oh, I don’t know. The sun is shining, the world’s still standing, we could have been expelled…”

“ _You_ could have been expelled,” Cheryl muttered to her nails. “My daddy would never have let them kick me out.”

Behind Cheryl, through the window, Kira could see a familiar jeep pull into the staff parking lot, and she felt her smile turn radiant. Detention was only a few more hours, and then there were only six more weeks of highschool left.

She planned to use that time to talk Tommy out of that ridiculous idea he still had that he was responsible for Mesogog, and back into the research and fieldwork that he clearly missed. If she was lucky, and if she was reading Hayley’s cryptic hints correctly, then maybe she could even convince him to come to New York with her. And if not, well, they’d fought monsters and mutant dinosaurs and cheerleaders together. She wasn’t going to give up that easily.

The classroom door slid open, and everyone looked up with varying degrees of apathy.

“Oh, fuck,” Cheryl swore, and slid lower in her seat, her perfectly made up face twisting into an expression of antipathy. Tommy stood in the doorway, his eyebrow lifting. His dark hair was adorably rumpled, as if he hadn’t woken up properly yet, and he was carrying a takeaway cup of coffee in one hand and his briefcase in the other.

“It looks like I drew the short straw today,” he said with wry calm. “I’m sure none of you want to be stuck in detention any longer than I do, so let’s get this over with.”

His glance swept over the handful of belligerent and indifferent students, and met Kira’s gaze. She propped her chin in her hands and fluttered her eyelashes at him, and felt herself light up as he tried to suppress his answering grin.

The future was looking very, very bright.


End file.
